


Falling For You (actually because of you)

by pyninja



Category: EXO (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety Attacks, Awkward Soo, M/M, Shy Soo, my first mess, side!namjin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10696107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyninja/pseuds/pyninja
Summary: Kyungsoo really doesn't need to be looked after or worried about. He can take care of himself no problem. Seriously. Someone please go tell Baekhyun that.





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh shit, are you okay?” Someone grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and pulled him so that he was sitting up.

Kyungsoo rubbed his head and kept his eyes closed for a few more seconds.

“I’m fi-”

The same hands were now hugging him fiercely. Kyungsoo’s eyes shot open, a _Do I know you?_ on the tip of his tongue, but the boy let go quickly as if realizing what he’d just done.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you were there because I was running late to my next class and then you were just there. Is your bike okay? Are you okay? Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

The boy’s grip on his shoulders was tight and his face was scrunched up in distress. Funnily enough, he seemed to be worse off than Kyungsoo with his hair all over the place, dirt on his white hoodie, and a scratch on one side of his cheek.

“I’m fine. A little jostled, but fine.” He reached up to pry the hands off his shoulders as gently as possible.

Taking the hint, he dropped his hands but continued to stare at Kyungsoo searching for any sign of injury on him.

Feeling a little self-conscious, Kyungsoo got up brushing himself off and the other boy scrambled to keep up with him.

A little less freaked out, the boy adjusted his hoodie and backpack straps.

“I think you should go to the infirmary. You blacked out there for a minute.” His voice was softer but no less worried. “I can bring you there if you want.”

Kyungsoo picked up his backpack and lifted his bicycle. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine.”

He turned to say something like an awkward _Bye_ or _Please be more careful_ but suddenly the whole world turned black.

~

When he came to, everything was white.

“Am I in heaven?” His voice came out rough and only then did he realize how thirsty he was.

A chuckle came from his left. “Sorry to disappoint. You’re in the infirmary, Kyungsoo-ssi.”

Jolting up, he made eye contact with the boy from before. This time there was a bandage over the scratch on his cheek and he was smiling.

“Hi, I’m Baekhyun. The guy that almost ran into your bike earlier.” Baekhyun gave an awkward wave and an even wider smile. “You collapsed again and I brought you to the infirmary.”

Kyungsoo stared at him silently furrowing his eyebrows.

Taking his silence for a go ahead, he continued on, “The nurse said that it was just exhaustion.” A pause. “And, um, malnourishment.”

Baekhyun was staring at him again as if to make sure he didn’t fall apart. “So she gave you some vitamins and said that you should go home and eat something… “ He squinted his eyes like he was thinking hard. “...nourishing.”

Kyungsoo swung his legs around the side of his bed trying to ignore Baekhyun’s stare.

“Okay, thank you. Is there anything I need to fill out?” He grabbed his backpack from the table next to his bed. Reaching in he pulled his things out. Phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check.

A little taken aback by how methodical and calm Kyungsoo was being, Baekhyun stuttered, “N-no, one of the doctors - your friend, Kim Namjoon I think, filled out everything for you. He also took your bike back to your dorm.”

Kyungsoo gave a curt nod and a stiff smile as put everything back into his backpack. “Is there anything else?”

“Yeah!” Kyungsoo winced at the sudden volume increase. “I was actually wondering if you wanted to go eat or something. You know, since the nurse said you should eat something, and it’s already 8:30 so-”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in shock, “8:30? P.M.?”

“Yeah, you’ve been here for about five hours.” Baekhyun gave a small apologetic grin.

“Wait, that means-” Kyungsoo spun around and looked at Baekhyun in confusion. “Did I miss my class or was I coming from it?”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Kyungsoo again.

“Do you mean to say,” Kyungsoo looked at Baekhyun as if he had never seen him before. “That you’ve been here for five hours?”

“Ummmm...”

Kyungsoo tugged his wallet from out of his backpack checking for cash.

“Did you say you wanted to go out to eat?” He found what he was looking for and lifted his head up.

Baekhyun was staring again.

“Uh,” he started. “Yeah, there was this really cheap place across the street, and I figured it’d be best if you got food into your system as soon as possible since… well, you know... so yeah...” he finished with a blush.

“Let’s go.”

~

It was a nice restaurant. On a Wednesday night, the place wasn’t too crowded and there was a nice lull of chatter throughout. The food smelled delicious and Kyungsoo tried not to drool. When was the last time he ate?

As they got in line, Kyungsoo began regretting his decision. He wasn’t good at talking to new people, but the guy had sat at his bedside for five hours, so he felt obligated to treat Baekhyun to a meal. He also felt a bit guilty for being so curt to him earlier.

Baekhyun didn’t seem to notice Kyungsoo’s inner turmoil as he began looking at the menu.

“Beef soup, beef soup, beef soup,” he hummed under his breath. Baekhyun abruptly turned towards him as continued bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Kyungsoo-ssi, what are you getting?”

He was smiling rather disarmingly, so Kyungsoo whipped his head around to face the menu behind the cashier. “I-I’m not sure.” He cleared his throat. “Is there anything you would recommend?”

“Haha, all I really want is beef soup, but that isn’t very filling. I don’t want to say jjajangmyeon because everyone’s had that. Maybe a burger, but they don’t sell burgers here. How about some bibimbap?” Baekhyun’s smile turned crinkly at his eyes as his smile grew.

Kyungsoo absorbed the onslaught of words in a bit of shock and tried to think Baekhyun’s answer through.

“So… bibimbap?” Baekhyun looked a little worried as he stepped towards him. “Are you okay? You aren’t going to faint again are you?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you,” Kyungsoo said as he felt his cheeks heat up.

“What would you like today?” the cashier interrupted.

Baekhyun turned looking surprised as if he’d forgotten where they were for a second. “Um… I’ll have the beef soup and -”

He took one look at Kyungsoo’s confused face and continued on. “- the bibimbap.”

“Okay, that’ll be fifteen thousand won.”

Kyungsoo snapped out of his confusion and stepped in before Baekhyun could protest, handing the cashier the money.

Baekhyun was frowning as they went to look for a table.

“You shouldn’t have paid for both of us. I have enough money for a bowl of soup. And I knocked you over in the first place.”

Kyungsoo scoffed a little. “It was what I should’ve done, and I would’ve fallen over eventually. Lucky for me, someone as nice as you was there, otherwise who knows what would’ve happened.”

They slid into the booth and set their things down.

“Um, Kyungsoo-ssi - “

“Call me Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo said as he rummaged through his backpack for his phone.

“Kyungsoo, may I ask when the last time you ate was?” Kyungsoo paused, phone finally in hand, to look at Baekhyun.

He looked pretty worried for someone who he met a few hours ago. With a bandage on his cheek and his messy hair covered with a beanie, he almost looked like a little kid. Kyungsoo tried to concentrate on something other than the question as he observed Baekhyun’s features. Slowly, he began drawing circles on his phone as he looked away down towards the table.

“Kyungsoo?” He didn’t have to look up to know that Baekhyun’s eyebrows were drawn together again.

“It’s - it’s nothing.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “I just forget to eat sometimes.”

He tried not to wince at how vulnerable his voice sounded.

Baekhyun must’ve sensed Kyungsoo’s discomfort. Instead of pressing on, he leaned back and sighed. “That’s how it goes. I thought university was going to be a lot partying and some classes, but it’s literally just classes. I barely have time to wash my clothes.” He leaned forward again as if he was going to tell Kyungsoo a secret. “I don’t smell do I?”

Kyungsoo attempted to scooch backward, intimidated by Baekhyun’s proximity. “I-I don’t think so.” His grip on his phone tightened.

“Thank god. I really need to take a shower, “ Baekhyun said wrinkling his nose in distaste.

He stretched his arms over his head and crinkled his eyes again.

“So, what are you studying? I’m a psych major.”

Kyungsoo loosened his grip on his phone.

“I’m in the literature department.”

“Ohhh, can you quote Dickens off the top of your head?”

Before Kyungsoo could answer, their food arrived.

“Bibimbap and beef soup?”

Baekhyun gave a little wave. “That’s us!”

The waitress set their food down and Kyungsoo tried not to lunge for it.

“Enjoy your meal!”

Baekhyun grabbed the pair of disposable chopsticks and motioned for Kyungsoo to do the same.

After both of them had their utensils in hand Baekhyun began picking out the beef and eating them.

Kyungsoo slowly began eating bite by bite chewing slowly. Had it really been that long since he ate? The feeling of eating good food felt almost foreign to him.

“So,” Baekhyun paused to slurp. “Throw me some quotes.”

Kyungsoo stopped his intent chewing to think for a second.

“I can’t remember any.”

Baekhyun frowned as he continued to pick out the beef. “Not even one?

Kyungsoo racked his brains, completely setting down his chopsticks.

“Uh… you’re a wizard, Harry?”

The second it left his mouth he felt a familiar sensation of blood rushing up to his cheeks and ears. He was a goddamn literature major and that was all he could come up with?

“Hey, I knew that one!” Baekhyun grabbed his spoon and waved it in the air. “Give me one that I probably don’t know.”

Kyungsoo stared down at his bowl of bibimbap as he tried to think again.

After a moment of silence, and slurping on Baekhyun’s part, he lifted his head up a little.

“I really can’t think of anything right now.”

Baekhyun looked worried again as he shook his head. “No, it’s fine! I was just curious. Eat up, the food here is really good.”

Clearly, if his already empty bowl was any indication. It was completely clean as if no one had used it at all.

Kyungsoo nodded and began eating his food in silence. The food still tasted great, but he felt extremely awkward and out of place in the small restaurant. It had been awhile since he had eaten something that wasn’t ramen or microwaved and it had been even longer since he had left his dorm to do anything other than to get to his classes.

He sneaked a peek at Baekhyun and was met with a pair of eyes looking straight back. Caught off guard, Kyungsoo began coughing and struggled to reach for his cup of water.

After clearing his throat and calming down, he went straight back to his food and tried to ignore Baekhyun’s amused smile.

“Kyungsoo, you can slow down. I’m not in a hurry.”

Baekhyun had taken his windbreaker off and was wearing a sweater that had a picture of a pizza saying, “You’ll always have a pizza my heart.”

“Okay.”

Avoiding his gaze, Kyungsoo checked his phone’s lock screen.

 

 

> Namjoon 7:32 PM  
>  hey, are you ok? sorry i left, i had a lecture in the afternoon. text me when you get this

One text from his roommate/only friend. Well, it wasn’t like he was expecting anything more.

He grabbed his phone to text him back. 

 

 

> Kyungsoo 8:47 PM
> 
> I’m fine, thanks for filling everything out and getting my bike. I’m getting dinner right now

Setting his phone down, Kyungsoo went back to eating as quickly as he could. The faster he could get home in the safety of his dorm the better. He should’ve just bought a meal for Baekhyun. It took too much effort to eat his own.

Clearing his throat, Kyungsoo said, “I think I’m going to just take the rest of this home.” He poked at the leftover bibimbap, about half of the portion still uneaten.

Getting up immediately, Baekhyun agreed, “Alright, I’ll grab a box and a bag.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened at Baekhyun’s speed. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who felt awkward, although the other didn’t show it.

After packing up their things and leaving the restaurant, Kyungsoo said a quiet goodbye and began walking in the direction of his dormitory. It was cold at night and he still had some notes he had to look over before his class tomorrow.

Not a minute later, Baekhyun sidled up from beside him. “ I want to make sure you get home alright. Or get kidnapped, or… something.”

He flashed a quick grin before shivering and pulling his heavy coat tighter around him.

Kyungsoo, on the other hand, slowed down to stare at him. He was going to walk him home? Were they supposed to continue talking to each other? He didn’t know how to make small talk. Was he going to have to let him inside or attempt to say goodbye again and close the door in his face?

“Is there something on my face?” Baekhyun asked patting his face with his hands.

“No, but you should just go home.” Realizing how harsh he sounded Kyungsoo attempted to amend his phrasing. “I’ll be fine, you’ve already done enough.”

Baekhyun looked as if he were about to protest, but seeing the look on Kyungsoo’s face he stopped.

“How about I walk you until I get close enough to my apartment? I still feel bad that I took away your whole afternoon.”

Kyungsoo sighed internally. Nice people were hard to deal with. “It really wasn’t your fault. I technically took away most of your afternoon too.”

Baekhyun regarded Kyungsoo for a moment and finally nodded. “How about I give you my number and you text me when you get home safely then? I really don’t want you to collapse walking halfway home.”

Going over the different options in his head, Kyungsoo agreed and exchanged numbers with him.

“Ok, see you around and eat healthier!” Baekhyun waved goodbye and began walking in the exact opposite direction Kyungsoo was.

Kyungsoo shook his head as he began walking away and checked his phone. The new contact read _Baekhyun :)_.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting in the corner of a couch with a couple making out next to him and the bass pounding in his ear, Kyungsoo was not enjoying his Friday night. Initially, Namjoon’s boyfriend wanted to celebrate finishing the first semester, but it was now about three weeks into the second semester and Seokjin had changed his mind and decided that the three of them would be celebrating the fact that they made it nineteen days in.

Usually, Kyungsoo got along well with Seokjin, but he didn’t expect to end up at a party. He didn’t even know parties like these still existed. There was probably going to be a noise complaint filed by the neighbors within the next hour or so.

“Hyung, are you good?” Namjoon yelled coming out of the makeshift dance floor looking sweaty and pretty drunk. “Seokjin’s in the kitchen teaching someone about the difference between a macaron and a macaroon and I left”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m going to go find him. It’s too packed in here,” Kyungsoo yelled back. It had been a while since he had been at a party and now he definitely remembered why.

Elbowing a few people and breaking up a lot of sweaty bodies, he managed to find the kitchen, where Seokjin was now talking about why kimchi was wonderful.

“You don’t understand. What would we do without it? It’s the best - Kyungsoo! Tell them why it’s great.“ Seokjin wasn’t even that drunk. He’d had what? One sip of beer?

“Um, I’m okay, I just wanted to let you know I was leaving. Namjoon’s still dancing out there. Let him know when he isn’t deaf.” Kyungsoo glanced around the room. There were three people, all of them looking too sleepy to listen to what Seokjin was saying.

“Are you sure? We can leave a bit earlier if you want. I just thought you might want to do something a little different than usual.” Seokjin looked really apologetic as he looked at him through smudged eyeliner.

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes as he took notice of the way Seokjin was dressed. “Yeah, just don’t come back to our dorm. I’m not sleeping with headphones on.”

Seokjin smirked a little. “Okay, fine. I just thought that maybe a party would help you loosen up a bit.”

“No thanks. I’m leaving now.” Kyungsoo turned around before Seokjin could make a comment about how it helped Namjoon or something.

On his way out, he made eye contact with someone from across the room wearing just as much eyeliner as Seokjin, if not more. Kyungsoo didn’t recognize him, but the guy clearly recognized Kyungsoo as he looked back with a wave and a smile playing on his lips.

Looking away quickly, he hoped that it wasn’t someone he knew and began walking faster towards the exit.

Quite literally knocking and climbing over people, eyeliner boy made his way towards Kyungsoo in a firm, if slightly drunk, way.

Kyungsoo had gotten to the door and was halfway through it when the boy latched onto the back of his sweater. Desperate to leave, and at this point very confused, Kyungsoo attempted to shake off the guy and leave with his coat intact. He probably looked like he was having a seizure. Fortunately, everyone was too occupied to notice Kyungsoo make a fool out of himself as he finally managed to get out of the house.

Once the door closed behind him, he turned around to find out who was holding onto him.

“Kyungsoo! Soo! Kyung! Soo! I remember your name,” the guy said grinning a rectangular grin. He was dressed in a ripped sweater and leather pants making Kyungsoo cringe at the not-so-weather-sensitive clothing choice.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” The boy in front of him was a lot prettier close up, and now Kyungsoo was sure that they had met before but he couldn’t remember why.

“Baekhyun! The guy who went with you to the hospital and had a really awkward dinner with?” He was still grinning, but now he looked a little unsure of himself.

The gears in his head clicked and Kyungsoo widened his eyes going, “Ahhh.”

“Ha, you’re adorable.” Baekhyun reached up to ruffle his hair, smile in full bloom now.

“Um, I was leaving, did you need something?” Kyungsoo resisted the urge to just leave as he glanced at Baekhyun.

“No, I just thought that I should say hi. Hi!” Baekhyun was slowing lowering himself as he spoke and spreading his arms out onto the grass.

“Okay, I’ll just get going then…”

Before he could actually leave, a tall boy with big ears came running out of the house and ran straight at Kyungsoo.

Sidestepping the giant, he watched him go down a few feet away from Baekhyun.

“Why’d you do that? I just wanted a huuug,” the guy slurred.

“Chanyeol, you dick, don’t scare him.” Baekhyun halfheartedly threw a handful of grass at Chanyeol. Turning to Kyungsoo he laughed and sighed. “Sorry, he isn’t usually like this.”

Kyungsoo nodded and began slowly backpedaling away from the two of them.

“Don’t back away like that!” Baekhyun shouted. Scrambling to his feet, he stumbled towards Kyungsoo and yanked him forward making the two of them awkwardly hug.

Ready to knock someone out, Kyungsoo was about to tell Baekhyun to let go and let him go home when he heard retching noises behind him.

“Ew,” Baekhyun said looking behind Kyungsoo. He wrinkled his nose and made gagging noises.

Kyungsoo turned around in time to witness some drunk freshman puking their dinner out onto the grass behind him.

From his original position on the ground, Chanyeol began talking again. “Baekhyun, why is my bed so cold? And damp? Why can I see the sky? Can we fix our roof? I really want something to eat.” Chanyeol groaned and got up. Slowly, he ambled his way towards Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

Taking note of their awkward positioning, Chanyeol looked as if he were about to cry. “What the hell man? You won’t give me a hug, but you’ll give him a hug? I see how it is.” Before Kyungsoo could get out of the way again or protest, Chanyeol draped his long arms around Baekhyun and Kyungsoo smushing them closer together.

Kyungsoo internally screamed and began squirmed his way out of the hug. But before he could attempt to leave for what felt like the hundredth time, Baekhyun looped his long fingers around Kyungsoo’s wrist.

“I’m sorry, I know you want to leave, but do you think you could help me?” He nodded his head at Chanyeol who was snoring with his eyes open. “He’s kind of heavy and I can’t drive because I drank too much.”

Kyungsoo tugged his wrist away and frowned. “What if I don’t know how to drive?”

“Then, I’m going to have to carry this idiot home.”

Baekhyun shifted Chanyeol so that he was leaning against Baekhyun’s back.

“What would you have done if I wasn’t here?”

“I’d probably still be dancing. I think you sobered me up.” Baekhyun laughed and then grimaced as Chanyeol began moving around. “Chanyeol, I’m going to let you fall if you don’t wake up.” Baekhyun slapped his thigh as hard as he could.

“I don’t know how to drive, sorry.” Kyungsoo bowed and began walking towards the campus.

“I saved you from getting puked on!” Baekhyun yelled from behind him.

Unfortunately for Kyungsoo, he didn’t like owing debts.

Grumbling to himself under his breath, Kyungsoo walked back and pulled one of Chanyeol’s arms over his shoulder.

“Where are we going?”

Smiling to himself and grabbing Chanyeol’s other arm, Baekhyun pointed towards the left of the campus.

“It should take about five minutes.” With that Baekhyun hoisted Chanyeol up a little more and began leading the three of them towards his apartment.

“Did Chanyeol bring a jacket or something?” Kyungsoo asked as they walked down the mostly quiet streets. He looked down at Chanyeol’s muscle tee. It was about forty degrees outside and even with his sweater, Kyungsoo felt cold. “Did you bring a jacket?” He looked at Baekhyun’s ripped sweater. It gave him the urge to pull out a needle and some thread and stitch it all back up.

“He did, but he ended up giving it to some girl he was making out with. I didn’t bring anything I’m hot enough to keep myself warm.” Baekhyun attempted to throw Kyungsoo a wink, but Kyungsoo had his eyes on the sidewalk in front of them.

Kyungsoo didn’t even respond as he continued to trudge forward. There was a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach like there was a lead ball rolling around. He had definitely eaten today, Seokjin had made sure of it. So what was this feeling?

“We’re almost there. It’s this building.” Baekhyun pointed across the street to a tall building consisting of mainly metal and glass.

Baekhyun felt around in his pockets for something while balancing Chanyeol on one shoulder. “Can you-” He managed to pull his keys out of his pocket. “Can you hold him for a second?”

Kyungsoo nodded slowly afraid to make any sudden movements. The feeling wasn’t going away.

Baekhyun unlocked the door and led them to the elevator. “Twenty-three, twenty-three.”

“Here, just set him down on the ground,” Kyungsoo heard Baekhyun say, but he didn’t think he could, so instead of listening he closed his eyes and gripped Chanyeol’s waist and arm tighter.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. He was fine. After he dropped Baekhyun and Chanyeol off, he would go home and sleep whatever this was off.

“Kyungsoo, you can set him down, really. The floor is probably cleaner than his pants.” Noticing Kyungsoo’s closed eyes Baekhyun’s voice grew worried. “Kyungsoo, are you okay?”

“What floor are we on?” Kyungsoo interrupted.

“Twenty-tw-three. We’re here.” Baekhyun tapped Kyungsoo on the shoulder. “Can you walk?”

Kyungsoo opened his eyes and took another deep breath. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s right side and began dragging him out of the elevator. The three of them walked in silence, save for a few pants from Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, until they made it to 2317.

Unlocking this door, Baekhyun flipped the light switch and kicked off his shoes. Kyungsoo followed and they both stumbled their way over to the couch, proceeding to dump Chanyeol on it.

Kyungsoo slumped over putting his head on the table next to Chanyeol and noticed that the apartment looked pretty expensive. Shaking his head, he pulled himself together and got up to his feet. “I’ll be going now.”

“Do you want something to drink before you go? Chanyeol’s pretty heavy.” Baekhyun held up a glass of water from the kitchen.

Nodding reluctantly, Kyungsoo walked over to take the water from Baekhyun.

“Sorry about that.” He nodded towards Chanyeol. “He just went through some stuff and he needed to get really drunk.”

“It’s okay, as long as I don’t have to do that again.” Kyungsoo took a sip of water feeling it trickle down his throat and grimaced.

“I know, I’ve already asked this way too many times, but are you alright?”

Kyungsoo sipped his water and looked up at Baekhyun. Standing in close proximity, he could see that Baekhyun was a little taller than he was and that he was pretty good at applying eyeliner. The strokes were clean and smooth even after a few hours of dancing in a room full of sweaty people.

“Yes, I’m - “ Before he could finish, the feeling returned to his stomach again and Kyungsoo gasped dropping his glass of water and grabbing onto the counter.

Chanyeol groaned from the other room as the sound of glass shattering was audible throughout the otherwise quiet apartment.

“Whoa,” Baekhyun said catching Kyungsoo by the waist before he could completely fall over. “Maybe you should just stay the night.”

Kyungsoo gripped onto the torn fabric on Baekhyun’s sweater as he tried to shake his head. This was so embarrassing. Twice in front of the same person, and both at ridiculous times.

“Okay, we’re going to get you to my room then,” Baekhyun said ignoring Kyungsoo’s attempt to shake his head again.

Half leading half carrying Kyungsoo to what was presumably Baekhyun’s room, he opened the door and set him down on the bed.

Kyungsoo’s head swam and he doubled over in a coughing fit as soon as he attempted to lay down.

“Shit, should I call a doctor or something?” Baekhyun had his phone in his hand and was awkwardly hovering over Kyungsoo not sure of what he should do to help.

“N-no, don’t do that,” Kyungsoo managed between coughs while trying to stay conscious. “Whenever this happens, I just sleep it off.”

“I really think we should call someone who knows what’s going on.” Baekhyun was sitting down next to him, and Kyungsoo could smell the faint scent of sweat and alcohol still on him, but there was also something else underneath it. Whatever it was made his stomach stop turning, so, unthinkingly, he leaned in.

“You can grab my phone and call Namjoon,” Kyungsoo mumbled into Baekhyun’s collarbone. He could feel Baekhyun stiffen underneath him. “Let me just grab it.”

At this point, Kyungsoo’s motor skills didn’t function as well as he would’ve liked them to and he fumbled around for a good second in his pockets. He finally got his phone out and managed to place it in Baekhyun’s hands. “The passcode is 0112.” His voice trailed off and he slumped over into Baekhyun’s lap.

Baekhyun stared at Kyungsoo in shock, not quite sure about what he was supposed to do. Call emergency services or Kyungsoo’s friend?

Deciding to call his friend first, Baekhyun unlocked the phone and searched up Namjoon. The name popped up immediately and he hit the call button.

Within two rings, someone picked up. “Hey Kyungsoo, decide to come back?” There were sounds of a party, but it seemed pretty distant.

Before Baekhyun could say anything, the guy continued on, “Oh! I forgot to tell you, I brought some of your medicine with me just in case, so don’t freak out if you can’t find it, I left it on the kitchen counter.”

“E-excuse me? Is this Namjoon?” Baekhyun finally managed to interject.

“Wha-who-no, this is Kim Seokjin, Namjoon’s boyfriend speaking. Who is this?” The guy on the other end, Seokjin, sounded very apprehensive suddenly.

“My name is Baekhyun and Kyungsoo was helping me bring one of my friends back home when he fainted. He told me to call Namjoon before passing out.” Baekhyun looked down at Kyungsoo who seemed to be asleep. Baekhyun could feel his slight rise and fall of his chest.

“What should I do?” he asked rather desperately.

“Fu-Namjoon! Come here!” There were sounds of someone running and then rustling as someone breathed heavily into the phone.

“Hi, um, why am I answering this phone call?” He heard frantic murmuring in the background coming from what sounded like Seokjin.

“He - WHAT?” Baekhyun pulled the phone away from his ear a little.

“Hi, hello, could you just check his pulse, please? Do you know how to do that?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun said as he put his fingers to Kyungsoo’s carotid. “It’s strong and steady.”

“Okay, what happened before he fell over?” The sounds of the party began fading away.

“Well, he had some trouble with his stomach and then he began coughing pretty badly. I think he got a little dizzy because - “ Baekhyun stopped, what was he going to say? He decided to lean on me? “ - because he slowly started leaning over and he finally put his head all the way down before falling unconscious.”

“Strong and steady, you said?”

“Yes, strong and steady.”

“Can I have your address please?” Namjoon asked while saying, presumably to Seokjin, “Can you write this down?”

“I can just text it to you.” Baekhyun’s leg was starting to fall asleep with Kyungsoo’s head on it, but he didn’t want to move for fear of waking him up or making whatever was happening worse.

“Oh, yeah, that’ll probably be easier.” Baekhyun quickly opened the messaging app and sent him the address.

“Okay, I received it. Kyungsoo should be fine. Oh, could you lay him down somewhere? Flat on his back?”

“Yup, on it.” Baekhyun put the phone on speaker mode and set it down on the ground.

“Alright, thank you. We’ll be there in about seven minutes.” With that, Namjoon hung up.

Baekhyun looked at the boy sleeping in his lap and sighed. “Don’t say you’re fine if you’re not.”


	3. Chapter 3

Baekhyun heard two raps come from the door and got up from his place beside Kyungsoo. He had managed to get the sleeping boy into his bed rather easily and had spent the rest of his time walking between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo making sure both of them were alive.

It was possibly one of the oddest Friday’s he had spent in a long time.

“Hello, Byun Baekhyun-ssi, I’m Kim Seokjin.” A tall broad shouldered guy dressed in all pink, other than his brown hair, came in bowing and pulling another tall guy with purple hair behind him.

With a low bow, the second guy hit his head against Seokjin’s knee while he was taking off his shoes. Flustered, he managed to sputter out, “Kim Namjoon, nice to meet you.”

“Uh, yes,“ Baekhyun said reciprocating the bow. “Kyungsoo’s sleeping in my room.”

Baekhyun backed up and waited for Namjoon to kick off his boots. Taking notice now, it looked like they had run from the party with their flushed cheeks and deep breaths reverberating throughout the silent apartment.

“This way.” Baekhyun began walking towards his room. “That’s my roommate Park Chanyeol,” he said as Seokjin jumped a little behind him unaware of the person sleeping on the couch until now.

Opening the door, he peeked inside to see if Kyungsoo was still asleep. His eyes were closed and he looked relaxed, so Baekhyun turned around and out a finger to his lips. Seokjin and Namjoon both nodded and he opened the door all the way.

Namjoon entered the room and rushed over to Kyungsoo checking his pulse once again and feeling his forehead.

“Shit, maybe we shouldn’t have brought him to the party.” Seokjin was behind Namjoon wringing his hands. “It’s been almost three months since he had an attack. He’d been so cooped up so I thought it would’ve been okay-“

Namjoon shook his head as he turned around and took one of Seokjin’s hands. “It’s not your fault, babe.” Turning to Baekhyun he said, “Thank you for allowing him to sleep on your bed. I think it was just exhaustion and a bit of anxiety.”

Namjoon turned back to Seokjin. “He’s been eating fine everyday right?”

“Yeah, I’ve made sure he’s been eating three square meals a day. He even helped me out for lunch yesterday.” Seokjin looked calmer now and he was holding Namjoon’s hand. Baekhyun felt a little awkward, but also a bit amused as they took up some odd form of doctor and father of the patient.

“Okay, how about sleep?” This time Seokjin deadpanned.

“You’re his roommate, shouldn’t you be answering that question?”

Namjoon’s face turned a little red as his cool composure fell apart. “Y-yeah, I noticed that he hadn’t been sleeping well but he was smiling a lot more.”

They both turned to Baekhyun as if he could give them some answers.  
“Right, uh, exhaustion sounds about right?” Baekhyun said, wondering if he should’ve called 119 instead.

“Okay, I don’t think we should move him because it sounds like he needs a lot of sleep. I have his meds with me, so when he wakes up it should be fine,” Seokjin said suddenly, shaken out of his confusion. “Baekhyun, we’ve already intruded quite a bit, but would it be alright if we kept him here? If you want your bed we can move him to the couch or something, I just don’t think that it’d be a good idea to move him.”

Baekhyun waved a hand at him smiling. “Oh no, don’t worry about it, he can stay here tonight. I don’t have anything tomorrow anyway.”

“Really? Thank you,” Seokjin said looking at Kyungsoo worriedly.

Namjoon was still sitting by Kyungsoo, but he was facing Baekhyun and staring at him in silence with furrowed brows. “Wait, are you Byun Baekhyun from psychology?”

“Um, yes, I am.”

Seokjin’s eyes widened at that.

“Are you also the guy that Kyungsoo almost ran over last time?”

“Oh, haha, yeah.” Baekhyun scratched the back of his head embarrassed. “Kyungsoo got the brunt of it though.”

Namjoon looked as if he were about to say something, but Seokjin pulled him up.

“Should we come pick him up in the morning then?”

The three of them began walking towards the front of the apartment.

“Yeah, any time after ten should be good. If you come before that I probably won’t be awake.” Baekhyun gave another bright smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets breakfast. Does he still need his medicine?”

“Oh, you reminded me!” Seokjin pulled out a small bottle of pills. “Only give it to him if he looks like he’s going to faint. They’re anti-anxiety, but he technically can’t take it unless he absolutely needs it.”

Namjoon was once again struggling to put on his shoes at the door while Seokjin and Baekhyun were talking.

“Right, there are instructions on the bottle, but text me if you need anything. I’m almost a medical professional,” Namjoon said, standing up with both boots on. “Also, was your hair black a few – “

Seokjin covered up Namjoon’s face quickly. “Thank you! You can get our numbers off of Kyungsoo’s phone!”

He ushered Namjoon out and gave a quick bow before closing the door with slightly more force than necessary.

Chanyeol jolted awake from the sound and fell off the couch with a thump.

“Wha…” And then promptly fell back asleep.

Shaking his head, Baekhyun went to take a shower deciding that he would sleep in Chanyeol’s room. For some reason, he didn’t imagine Kyungsoo would like to wake up in bed with a stranger.

~

At around 9:30, Baekhyun woke up. Because of Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had gone home at around 11:45 and Baekhyun had only about two shots of some undistinguishable concoction, so he woke up feeling pretty good.

He walked into the kitchen after brushing his teeth and turned on the coffeemaker. Tapping his fingers against the counter, Baekhyun leaned on the counter to watch Chanyeol twitch in his sleep.

They were supposed to get blackout drunk last night after Chanyeol’s girlfriend broke up with him, but Chanyeol had had about seven shots in the two to three hours they were there. Baekhyun had decided to lay off the drinking then to make sure Chanyeol didn’t do something stupid.

Chanyeol’s upper body shot up from the ground and he looked at Baekhyun through bleary eyes.

“Ow, my head,” Chanyeol groaned and leaned his head against the couch closing his eyes.

“Hey, Yeol. Do you want leftover soup?” Baekhyun pushed off of the counter to rummage through the fridge. “I don’t know if you want anything else in here.”

Chanyeol groaned again and looked up through half closed lids. “Soup sounds good.” He slowly got up to his feet still holding his forehead. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

“Okay.” Baekhyun snickered. “Should have slowed down last night. You lasted for like two hours.”

Chanyeol flipped him off, “Shut up,” and continued to shuffle towards the bathroom.

Baekhyun jumped up onto the counter and engaged himself in a staring contest with the coffeemaker. After a few minutes of this, he decided his time would be better spent checking on Kyungsoo.

When Baekhyun knocked on the door, he heard something fall and a quiet “shit!”. He heard some more shuffling around and then the door opened.

Kyungsoo came out with his black hair sticking up in several different directions looking very sheepish.

“I knocked over some of your books,” Kyungsoo said pointing behind him. “Sorry.”

Baekhyun practically beamed. “It’s no problem. Are you feeling better?”

Kyungsoo looked a bit bewildered by Baekhyun’s energy and overall happiness, but managed to respond with, “Yes, uh, I’m sorry about what happened last night.”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you want some breakfast? I’m heating up some soup for Chanyeol, but we have other stuff. And I can also cook scrambled eggs! Kind of…” Baekhyun gave a nervous little laugh. “Please don’t ask me to cook, Kyungsoo-ssi.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. I don’t need breakfast. I’ve definitely overstayed,” Kyungsoo said shaking his head and giving another small heart-shaped smile.

Baekhyun noticed that Kyungsoo was much easier to talk to when he didn’t look like he was on the verge of fainting. And also very sweet.

Gently grabbing his arm, Baekhyun shook his head. “No, I really think you should have some breakfast before you go. I can make ramen and heat other leftovers.”

Kyungsoo looked down at Baekhyun’s hand that was wrapped around his arm. “Well… I can cook something.”

This time Baekhyun looked surprised. “Really? If you’re sure about it.”

When Chanyeol finally finished showering, he came out to a very domestic scene.

“Oh, wow, that looks good!” Baekhyun was fluttering around Kyungsoo as the younger was in the middle of frying something. “Oh my god, it smells so good!”

Kyungsoo’s mouth was quirked up in a grin that he was failing to contain as he continued to work on the frying pan.

Bouncing over, Chanyeol threw an arm around Baekhyun. “What is it?” Seeing the fried rice and boiling pot of soup Chanyeol gave Baekhyun a look. “Where did you pick him up? Can we keep him?”

Kyungsoo jumped a little and looked up at Chanyeol for a second before going back to looking at the stove, the smile wiped off his face.

Chanyeol poked Baekhyun and silently mouthed, “What did I do?”

Baekhyun made an “I don’t know” face and shrugged.

“Kyungsoo, you met Chanyeol last night right?” Chanyeol twisted his back so that he was really close to Kyungsoo’s face.

“Nice to meet you!” Kyungsoo jumped back almost knocking the pan off the stove.

Baekhyun managed to catch the spatula before it reached the ground and Chanyeol turned off the stove quickly.

“Shoot, are you okay?” Chanyeol said, getting too close again as Kyungsoo hurriedly turned away and took a few steps back.

Chanyeol jerked back awkwardly and turned to Baekhyun again. “Um…”

“Sorry, I think I need to take my medication,” Kyungsoo said bowing in Chanyeol’s direction and going towards Baekhyun’s bedroom, presumably to get his phone.

Baekhyun grabbed a pill bottle from off of the counter and rushed after Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol sat down on the ground and held a hand to his heart. “What just happened?”

A minute later, Baekhyun came out and nudged Chanyeol with his toe.

“Well, you scared him.”

Chanyeol scrunched up his face and grabbed Baekhyun’s leg. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know your boyfriend was so sensitive.”

“Haha, very funny. Get up and have some breakfast.” Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol over and went into the kitchen.

“Shouldn’t you check on him?” Chanyeol asked nodding his head towards the closed door.

“He’s calling someone.” Baekhyun took a large serving of rice and soup mixing them together in a bowl.

Chanyeol sat down with only the soup and made a face. “Gross, isn’t that fried rice?”

“Yes, and it’s fantastic, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He took a large scoop of rice and soup and began eating.

“Really though, who was that?” Chanyeol took small sips of soup and rubbed his temples.

Baekhyun put down his spoon and leaned into the middle of the table. Chanyeol mirrored making them look like two gossiping ajummas.

“Remember that cute guy that I took to the hospital?”

Chanyeol put a hand to his mouth and gasped. “No.”

Baekhyun leaned back and nodded. “Yes.”

“Him? But he’s so… shy.” Chanyeol looked back over at the closed door.

“What about it?”

“I feel bad for him, you know.” Chanyeol gestured.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked giving Chanyeol a wary look.  
Well, dealing with you and everything,” Chanyeol said snorting loudly and leaning back as well. “Did you plan this?”

Baekhyun kicked Chanyeol hard from underneath the table.

“Ah! What the-” Chanyeol held onto his foot wincing in pain.

Baekhyun began shoveling food into his mouth again. “That’s so creepy. I’m not that creepy. How would I even plan something like this?”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Kyungsoo.

“I’m going to walk back. Thank you for letting me stay over.” Kyungsoo bowed and began walking towards the door.

From the slump in his shoulders, Baekhyun could tell that he was embarrassed.

“Hold up, I’m not letting you leave until you eat something,” Baekhyun said quickly walking over to the door and grabbing Kyungsoo’s shoes. “You’re a pretty good cook. Eat some of what you made.”

Kyungsoo looked up at his shoes then back at Baekhyun.

“Come, eat,” Chanyeol said leaning to peek around the counter. “I’ll stay two feet away from you at all times.”

Kyungsoo gaped at him for a second before looking back at Baekhyun.

“I really think that I should g-“

Baekhyun waggled a finger at Kyungsoo and held his shoes up higher.

“Eat, then you can go wherever you want.”

“You might just want to say yes to him or we’ll be here forever,” Chanyeol said from the kitchen, no longer facing them. The slurping sounds were audible from the front door.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo sighed in a defeated voice.

Chanyeol gave a little, “There we go” and went back to eating while Baekhyun set the shoes down trailing after Kyungsoo with a little smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that was a mess


	4. Chapter 4

When Kyungsoo finally got home, he sunk down to the floor and stayed there until Namjoon walked through the front door, nearly smacking Kyungsoo in the process.

“Holy shit! Hyung, what the hell?” Namjoon dropped down to check on Kyungsoo.

Raising his head slightly, Kyungsoo blinked looking at Namjoon through his eyelashes. “I talked with two people today. I think I’m done for the week.”

“Okay, hyung. Why don’t you go sit at the couch?” Namjoon helped him up and sat down next to him.

“What happened?” Namjoon asked putting the groceries down on the table. “We didn’t leave you with Baekhyun because we were lazy. I swear! He didn’t do anything weird to you did he?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “No, I-I had breakfast with them.” He looked down at his hands and curled and uncurled them. “I… I cooked for them.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened and he lightly clapped Kyungsoo’s back. “Seriously? Nice! Can you cook for me too?”

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes at Namjoon.

Awkwardly scooting away from Kyungsoo, Namjoon waved his hands in front of himself. “Never mind.”

Kyungsoo grabbed the plastic bags from off of the table and walked towards the kitchen.

After seeing that he was far enough from himself, Namjoon continued, “But Seokjin’s not always here and we end up eating ramen.” He ran towards the bathroom. “Just a thought, hyung!” And shut the door.

Kyungsoo laughed to himself and began putting away the food. He squinted when he saw a box of dried chilies not sure if he was reading the label wrong. He called out to Namjoon, “What is this? What do you need chilies for?”

Namjoon came running out of his bedroom and snatched the box out of Kyungsoo’s hands. “Um… I was in the mood for something spicy, but not anymore. I better keep these in my room just in case.”

Kyungsoo and Namjoon stared at each other for a second.

“Pranks?”

Namjoon slumped in defeat hugging the chilies closer to his chest.

“Taehyung and Yoongi labeled all of my folders into very inappropriate things. And then put plastic wrap over my door. I got stuck.”

Kyungsoo sighed a little and continued with the groceries. “When did this happen?”

“Last week, it was when you and Seokjin went to the library to study.” Namjoon stepped in to help. “And I can’t be too obvious about it because Yoongi hyung helped. If it were Taehyung and Jungkook I could do whatever. Maybe I can get Seokjin to help.”

Kyungsoo plucked the box of tissues out of Namjoon’s hands before he could put it in the fridge.

“Have fun doing that.”

“I won’t. I’m going to die.” Namjoon continued to shove everything into the fridge as his eyes glazed over and (probably) began to think about his impending doom.

As Kyungsoo pulled another bag of chips out of Namjoon’s hands and put it into the cupboard, Kyungsoo’s phone began ringing.

He checked the caller. _Jongdae :)))))))))_.

“Who’s that?” Namjoon said snapping out of his daze.

“No one.” Kyungsoo put the phone face down, muting it, and let it continue. “Where’s Seokjin anyway?”

“Oh, uh, he’s still sleeping.”

“It’s eleven, why is he still in bed?” Kyungsoo asked as he began knotting the plastic bags and putting them in the cabinet under the sink.

“We had a, um, late night.” Namjoon averted his eyes.

Kyungsoo groaned. “Lie to me next time. Don’t tell me,” he said as he finished knotting the bags.

He grabbed his phone, which was still buzzing, and walked back to his room. There was still more to be done and Kyungsoo wasn’t one to get behind on schoolwork.

After ten minutes of incessant buzzing, Kyungsoo finally checked his phone. There were 28 missed calls from _Yeolllllllooo_ and _Jongdae :)))))))))_ with a slew of texts that Kyungsoo didn’t bother to read. Kyungsoo frowned trying to think of who _Yeolllllllooo_ or _Jongdae :)))))))))_ could be. When he went to unlock his phone, the background had a selfie of Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and a guy whose smile looked like a cat’s. Kyungsoo frowned tried to unlock the phone with his usual passcode, but it didn’t unlock. He tried to think of anyone named Jongdae or Yeolo.

Quickly realizing that he didn’t have his own phone but Baekhyun or Chanyeol's, Kyungsoo really didn’t want to go back to their apartment to return the phone, but he needed his own for his schedule. He put his head down on top of his desk and stared at the phone next to him.

Steeling himself, Kyungsoo grabbed the phone and left his bedroom. Namjoon was still holding his box of chilies as Kyungsoo walked towards the door.

“Where are you going, hyung?” Namjoon asked.

Kyungsoo paused for a second and then he looked strangely relieved.

“Namjoon, you went to Baekhyun’s house last night right?”

“Yeeesss…”

“Do you remember where it is? Because I don’t think leaving the house again would be the best idea.”

Namjoon looked extremely confused. “What do you mean?”

Kyungsoo held up the phone. “I grabbed the wrong phone when I left his house.”

“Hyung- “

“Please, I need my phone and you aren’t doing anything today.” Namjoon sighed defeatedly setting the box of chilies down.

“Fine, just this once.”

Kyungsoo handed Namjoon the phone and went to go back to his room when Namjoon called out his name.

“Uh, hyung, the texts seem to be directed at you, I think you should give the phone back to them.”

Kyungsoo turned around and took the phone from Namjoon to quickly read through the texts.

Most of them were, _please answer the phone_ , _heeeey can I have my phone back pleeeease_ , _i think you took the wrong phone Kyungsoo_ and so on.

Kyungsoo was about to hand the phone to Namjoon and tell him it didn’t matter, but then he saw another text. Instead of the usual _phone please!_ , it read, _Grabbed the wrong phone now, did you? Unblock me or I’ll have to start pestering people around you. – Your number one fan_.

“Shit, hyung!” Namjoon yelped as he managed to catch the phone before it fell out of Kyungsoo’s hands.

Kyungsoo’s hands were shaking as he felt that ugly feeling rising from the pit of his stomach. Barely keeping it together, he sunk down to his knees.

“Namjoon, Nam - I need – pills – I don’t -”

Namjoon’s eyes widened as he scrambled to get the small bottle on the table.

After getting the pills to Kyungsoo, Namjoon pulled up the lock screen on the phone. As he read through the messages, Namjoon paled.

“Hyung, what is this?”

Kyungsoo was propped up against the couch as he buried his head in between his drawn up knees.

“Is this some kind of joke? How did they get this number? How did they know you had this phone?” Namjoon gulped as he read the rest of the messages. “Well, this is the only one. Should we report this?”

With his head still between his knees, Kyungsoo shook his head. A quiet, “No.”

“But, hyung, if this is like before, then…” He trailed off, but the meaning wasn’t lost on either of them.

“It’s fine, I’ll just ask them to stop or something. If it gets out of hand again, we can report this,” Kyungsoo said, finally lifting his head up. There was sweat across his forehead and the shadows underneath his eyes seemed more prominent, but he managed to get up. “I think I’ll have to come with you.”

Namjoon helped Kyungsoo up, looking at him worriedly. “Are you sure? I can give them back their phone and warn them about the texts.”

“You won’t know how much to tell them. I’ll come with.” Kyungsoo pocketed the pills and opened the door. “Let’s go. Slowly though.” He laughed a little while sighing at the state he was in.

~

Baekhyun opened the door barely half a second after Namjoon knocked.

“Hello! I have Kyungsoo’s phone here,” he said immediately. He held up the phone and handed it to Namjoon.

“Oh right, here’s your phone.” Namjoon took it out of his pocket, but before handing it to Baekhyun, Kyungsoo interjected from behind him.

“Actually, I think you got a text from some weirdo,” Kyungsoo said peeking out from behind Namjoon’s tall frame.

“Oh, Kyungsoo, I didn’t no-”

Chanyeol bounded to the door from behind Baekhyun.

“Soo! You’re back! After an entire hour!” The tall man was grinning from ear to ear as he slung an arm over Baekhyun’s shoulders.

“Yes, um, I just wanted to let you know someone texted you, and it was probably just a prank or something.” Kyungsoo struggled to find his next words. “I didn’t recognize it, but I wasn’t sure if you would, so I just wanted to let you know.”

Namjoon tried to subtly elbow Kyungsoo as he began to say, “Actually if you could tell - ” Kyungsoo tugged at the laces of Namjoon’s hoodie hard before he could finish speaking.

“Thank you again for letting me stay over last night. Have a good day.” Kyungsoo bowed pulling Namjoon with him.

“Oh, okay, bye,” Baekhyun smiled but he looked extremely confused at their quick exchange.

Namjoon managed a quick, “Have a good day”, before being pulled towards the elevator.

Once in, he turned to Kyungsoo, a bit annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell him? It would’ve been easier just to tell him to ignore the number.”

Kyungsoo leaned his back against the wall of the elevator and closed his eyes. “Then he would’ve been curious to know why a random number texted his number trying to reach me.”

“Where you actually going to say something to him or did you plan to just throw out a lame story and hope that they wouldn’t try to reach him again?”

Kyungsoo opened his eyes and gave Namjoon a sharp look before his expression morphed into something much more exhausted. “I was going to tell him something closer to the truth, but I don’t even know as much as I’d like to. I’ll just answer the person and hope that they’ll stop.”

“Kyungsoo! You can’t encourage them, whoever they are," Namjoon said in a worried voice.

“I can’t have them bothering random people I accidentally meet. That’s absurd.” Kyungsoo pulled out his phone and checked the number with no contact information. Sure enough, there was a message.

> Unknown 11:14 AM  
>  It’d probably be best if you answered babe. I wouldn’t want to have to chat up that new guy you met. Baekhyun was it?

It was sent about five minutes ago.

Kyungsoo began laughing in an entirely worn down way. “What can the police even do? We reported it last time and they couldn’t even find who did it, even after-” Kyungsoo cut himself off.

After a period of silence, Kyungsoo spoke again.

“Namjoon, are you sure you don’t want a new roommate?”

“Hyung, we’ve been through this,” Namjoon said in a dead serious voice.

The elevator dinged signaling their arrival to the first floor.

“I just want to make sure,” Kyungsoo said stepping off the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

“We need a hacker friend. Like a really good hacker friend who can trace everything without anyone ever knowing,” Seokjin said while handing Kyungsoo a knife and a cutting board.

The three of them were in Seokjin’s apartment helping him prepare for a get together with a group of guys. Kyungsoo didn’t usually come, but Namjoon was worried to leave him alone at their dorm after the text he had received, so here he was.

“Can you chop them into cubes?” Seokjin asked as he handed Kyungsoo a slab of meat.

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo began deftly cutting the meat.

“Can I do anything to help?” Namjoon asked hovering between the two of them.

“Make sure the beer and soju are in the fridge and that we have enough plates and forks. Plastic and paper only,” Seokjin said as he began to pull the leaves off of the lettuce. Turning to Kyungsoo, he continued, “Isn’t Jongin or Sehun minoring in computer science?”

“Both of them are,” Namjoon said from the cupboard.

“Ask one of them to take a look at the number.” Seokjin grabbed a cucumber and began cutting it into thin slices.

“And do what? I doubt they know how to hack.” Kyungsoo pushed the board of cubed meat towards Seokjin.

“Actually, I think Jongin does. He’s coming tonight, we can ask,” Namjoon offered as he began placing the utensils from his arms onto the counter.

“Sounds good. Let’s do that.” Seokjin placed everything into a bowl of sauce and began marinating everything.

“No, that’s weird. I don’t know Jongin that well. I’m probably just going to leave halfway through.” Kyungsoo took the mixing bowl from Seokjin, taking his place by the stove.

Seokjin sighed as he washed his hands. “Jongin likes you, it’ll be fine. And you aren’t leaving just so we can worry about you for the rest of the night.”

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t walk around by yourself anymore,” Namjoon said finally putting everything away. “Do you have that location sharing thing? We should connect our phones again.”

Kyungsoo pointed towards his coat on the sofa. “It’s right there.”

As Namjoon went to grab it the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it, connect your phones now so that you don’t forget,” Seokjin said drying his hands on his jeans and walking to the door.

A few seconds later, there was the sound of laughing and greetings being exchanged.

“Can I go hide now?” Kyungsoo asked Namjoon as he began to dump the bowl of food into the wok.

“No, you know I can’t cook, hyung,” Namjoon said eyeing the stove warily.

“Hey, Namjoon!” a bright voice said, walking into the living room. A gasp, and then, “Kyungsoo hyung!”

Kyungsoo winced at the decibel and held onto the spatula a little tighter as he began to heat everything up.

“Kyungsoo hyung? Where?” another familiar voice said. “Oh!”

A moment later, Taehyung and Jongin were on either side of Kyungsoo.

“That smells good, hyung. Are you staying today?” Jongin asked as he eyed the food intently.

Taehyung took another sniff and then leaned into the pan. Kyungsoo grabbed the scruff of his neck and pulled him back before he could burn himself.

Answering, Kyungsoo said, “I’m not sure” at the exact same time Seokjin shouted, “Taehyung, get your head away from the fire.”

From behind him, Jungkook stifled a laugh and went to sit beside Namjoon.

“Jongin, are you any good at hacking?” Seokjin asked out of nowhere as he shooed Taehyung got the couch.

“Um, I mean, kind of?” Jongin said leaning his back against the counter. Kyungsoo internally cursed Seokjin and his timing. Stuck between Jongin, the fridge, and Seokjin, Kyungsoo couldn’t leave.

“I’ve been learning from another hyung. I don’t know if you know him, his name is Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo froze. “What?”

Jongin looked over at Kyungsoo smiling now that he was finally being noticed. “Do you know him? He’s a psych major, but he used to be in the computer science department.”

Kyungsoo racked his brains as he went back to stirring the food. It couldn’t be Baekhyun could it?

“Baekhyun? How good is he?” Seokjin said in a suspicious tone, probably wondering the same thing as Kyungsoo.

“Pretty good. Why?”

“I’ve been getting random calls and stuff, and I wanted to find the address of the guy and mail him glitter,” Seokjin said quickly when he noticed Kyungsoo’s small shake of his head.

“Haha, Baekhyun hyung can definitely do something like that.”

“Okay, I might give him a call then,” Seokjin said as he finally took the spatula from Kyungsoo.

He took the opportunity to sneak out of the kitchen and into the living room where Namjoon, Jungkook, and Taehyung were absorbed in an episode of Naruto.

Making sure Namjoon didn’t notice him, he grabbed his phone and coat. Seokjin’s back was towards the door as he and Jongin continued chatting and Kyungsoo took the chance to quickly make his way to the door and close it quietly.

Once he was out of the building, he texted Seokjin and Namjoon to let them know he was going home. Then, he pulled up Baekhyun’s number and texted him.

 

> Kyungsoo 6:45 PM  
>  Hi, are you free rn?

It was random, but Kyungsoo didn’t know what else to say. As he waited for a reply, he felt around in his pockets for his pills and keys.

Less than thirty seconds later, Baekhyun answered.

 

> Baekhyun :) 6:45 PM  
>  yes, thank god you texted me

Kyungsoo stared at his phone for a second trying to decipher what that meant.

 

> Baekhyun :) 6:45 PM  
>  did you know that blind dates suck? also, i have something to tell you

Another minute later, Baekhyun sent another text. 

 

> Baekhyun :) 6:46 PM  
>  i’m about ten minutes away from my apartment, you wanna just wait at the front?
> 
> Kyungsoo 6:47 PM  
>  Sure, I’m also about ten minutes away

Kyungsoo got there just as Baekhyun did. Seeing him made a shiver of fear go up his spine. It couldn’t actually be him, could it? Was he even prepared to actually face him? It seemed like a good idea to investigate right away, but now Kyungsoo was beginning to regret his rashness.

“Kyungsoo, hey!” Baekhyun gave a little wave as he walked up to him. “Long time no see. It’s been what, a month?”

“Uh, yes,” Kyungsoo said swallowing his nervousness and straightening his back. “How have you been?”

“Good, but now I miss home cooked meals thanks to that breakfast,” Baekhyun said as he rubbed his stomach grinning.

Kyungsoo began panicking as they began walking inside towards the elevators. He didn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with Baekhyun if he really was who he thought he was.

“I haven’t eaten anything yet. Can we go to one of the cafés across the street?” Kyungsoo asked before they could step in.

Baekhyun backed up. “Oh, really? Sure.” He laughed as he turned around. “I ate dinner already. With the Worst. Date. Ever,” he deadpanned.

Kyungsoo nodded unsurely and walked a pace behind him.

Baekhyun continued talking about his date to fill in the silence from Kyungsoo’s end as they walked to a small café across the street.

When they entered, they were greeted with a “Welcome to - Kyungsoo - Baekhyun - hyung?”

Kyungsoo looked up and saw Sehun behind the counter looking at the two of them in shock. He was jostled by one of his coworkers and immediately plastered on a smile. “Hello! What can I get for you today?”

Kyungsoo tried not to smile while Baekhyun began full out laughing. He tried to quiet down, but it looked like it was too much of a task for him. Meanwhile, Sehun’s entire face turned red as he waited behind the counter for one of them to give their order.

“I’ll have a croissant and a cup of water,” Kyungsoo said quietly, realizing how much attention the two of them were attracting

“That’ll be one thousand won,” Sehun said pink instead of red now.

Fishing over the money, Kyungsoo led Baekhyun over to a booth in the corner.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun said collapsing into the booth. “I’ve just never seen him so flustered before.”

“How do you know him?” Kyungsoo asked, guard back on.

“He and another guy come to me for help in their classes sometimes.” Baekhyun took off his coat and laced his fingers together. He looked as if he was going to ask something, but Kyungsoo interrupted.

“Do you know Jongin?”

Baekhyun looked from Sehun to Kyungsoo. “Yeah, do you know him?”

“I suppose,” Kyungsoo said, really staring at Baekhyun now. “Have you ever heard of The River And Its Colors?”

Flustered by Kyungsoo’s scrutiny, Baekhyun stuttered a little. “Th-the what?”

Kyungsoo seemed to fold into himself after Baekhyun said this. “Okay, never mind then. Sorry.”

Baekhyun blinked a few times, unsure of what just happened. Shaking his head, he tried to steer the conversation back to where he wanted it to be.

“Kyungsoo, has someone been harassing you?” Baekhyun said in a lower voice.

Kyungsoo’s head jerked up.

“I don’t mean to pry, but I saw the text from a few weeks ago. And they decided to send me a few more.” Baekhyun looked genuinely worried.

“They - ” Kyungsoo was cut off by Sehun as he placed the croissant and the water in front of him.

“Enjoy your meal, hyung,” Sehun said to Kyungsoo as he narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun.

“He will!” Baekhyun said smirking at Sehun. “Get back to work, kid.”

Sehun glared at him and walked back to his station.

Baekhyun’s smirk faded away immediately and he turned back to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo took a deep breath and put a hand to his forehead. “Y-you didn’t block them?”

“I didn’t think they’d text again.” Baekhyun looked much more serious as he continued, “Whoever is texting me is a pretty nasty person. Do you know them?”

Kyungsoo had his eyes closed again and he tried to keep everything under control. “Did you text them back?”

“I did, I thought it was a joke.” Worriedly, Baekhyun said. “Kyungsoo, are you okay?”

Kyungsoo didn’t answer as a took another deep breath. With shaking hands, he took out his pills and rattled out two. He took both of them with a big swig of water then wrung his hands together. The croissant in front of him didn’t look as good anymore.

“Kyungsoo?” Kyungsoo looked up at Baekhyun’s worried face.

“I’m fine. I’m fine. I just need a minute.”

Baekhyun nodded and pushed the croissant towards him. “You should eat something.”

Shaking his head, Kyungsoo gripped his sleeves tightly. “No, I’m okay.”

He got up and moved to sit next to Kyungsoo. “Alright. Do you want to stay or leave?” Baekhyun asked, shielding Kyungsoo from whoever could see them.

Kyungsoo his sleeves tighter with his eyes closed. “I don’t want to go back home. They know where I live.”

“We can go back to my place. There’s CCTV’s everywhere, it’s a high-tech building.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I don’t know about that.”

“Um, okay, do you want to stay then?” Baekhyun was moving closer to him in the small booth.

Slowly, gently, Baekhyun tugged the bottle of pills from Kyungsoo’s shaking hands and put them into Kyungsoo’s pocket.

“How good are you with computers?” Kyungsoo was still curled in but his eyes were now open with a hard look in his eyes.

“Very good,” Baekhyun said eyes gleaming.

“How do I know you aren’t the person threatening me?” Kyungsoo asked now looking at the untouched croissant in front of him.

“I have a feeling you already know I’m not. But we can just use Sehun as a key witness if you go missing.” Baekhyun gestured behind himself giving a smile.

Kyungsoo finally looked up to meet Baekhyun’s eyes. “Will you really help me?”

Baekhyun’s smile widened seeing that Kyungsoo was finally opening up a little. “Of course. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t?”


	6. Chapter 6

The two of them were in Baekhyun’s room again, but unlike last time Kyungsoo was not passed out. Baekhyun turned on his very ordinary looking laptop and pulled a chair from the dining room into his bedroom.

“I do my best sitting here,” Baekhyun said explaining why they were sitting in his bedroom instead of somewhere like the kitchen.

Nodding his head, Kyungsoo sat down in the chair and looked up at Baekhyun expectantly with his big eyes.

Resisting the urge to pat Kyungsoo on the head, Baekhyun sat down next to him and logged in. A slew of pages opened up with code that was undecipherable to Kyungsoo.

“So… I may or may not have already started investigating a little.” Baekhyun gave a half smile as he began going through the pages and sorting them. “Whoever this is, has some experience with computers. I can’t quite pinpoint the location, but I know that they’re within a five-mile radius of the university.”

“Five-mile radius? That’s such a large area.” Kyungsoo leaned closer to the computer as if it would narrow down the location for him.

Baekhyun took a glance at Kyungsoo trying not to gawk at him. Even though he was usually dressed in something black and conservative, it made him more attractive, drawing more attention to his face. Baekhyun blinked a few times trying to clear his head and tear his eyes away from Kyungsoo’s eyes, jaw, lips, everything.

“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo directed his gaze to Baekhyun with a questioning look in the tilt of his head.

“W-what?” Baekhyun momentarily had a brain spasm. Turning to the computer he quickly pretended to look for something as he nodded. “It’s a large area, but I can see it shift around a little every day.”

Kyungsoo’s focus was still on Baekhyun as he waited for him to explain.

“I started tracking this guy’s texts last week. I made it so that I could see their movements, so no matter how large the area is, it shifts a little in the direction they’re walking. If they aren’t moving, it doesn’t move.”

“It? Is there a map?” Kyungsoo looked back to the computer lifting some of the pressure off Baekhyun’s shoulders.

“Yeah, let me just pull it up.” Baekhyun navigated to a window with a map on it. Pointing to a faint green circle that took over a large area of the map, he explained, “This is the general location this guy’s phone is giving. It looks like they carry it around with them because it’s always moving.”

Kyungsoo nodded following along.

“Just a few days ago, they went all the way to Busan.” Baekhyun used his finger to trace out the way to Busan from Seoul. He looked over for a sign of affirmation from Kyungsoo, but the look of fear was on his face again.

“B-Busan?”

“Yeah, they left around Wednesday morning and got back in the afternoon on Friday.” Baekhyun made the map go back in time and it projected the movement over a weeklong period.

“I went to Busan for a research project,” Kyungsoo said quietly. “At exactly that time.”

Baekhyun looked from the screen to Kyungsoo in horror. “You mean, they followed you there?”

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything as he slumped in his chair.

“Did you travel with anyone else?” Baekhyun asked even more concerned than before.

“No, I knew some people there and I only traveled by myself during the day.” Kyungsoo stared at his hands. “I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

“Do you know why they’re following you?” Baekhyun asked.

Kyungsoo’s breath quickened as he looked up at Baekhyun in shock like he had just remembered there was a reason. “I can’t say,” he said shrinking in again.

“Oh-okay, yeah, well, do you have an idea of who they are?” Baekhyun asked quickly, trying to keep Kyungsoo from going back into his shell.

“I don’t, not really.” Kyungsoo looked back at the screen hopelessly. “I know that they’ve been following me since last year. They broke into my dorm and trashed the whole place. All they took were some of my clothes.” Kyungsoo shuddered a little. “I don’t know who they are. I got the police involved, but they didn’t catch him. I don’t know.” Kyungsoo repeated.

Baekhyun put a hand on Kyungsoo’s back comfortingly as he tried to sort through his thoughts. No wonder, he was so closed off and shy. How did you deal with something like that?

“Kyungsoo, for how long have you been receiving these texts?”

Regaining his composure, Kyungsoo answered, “Since the beginning.”

“Did you happen to keep the texts?”

“Only a few for legal purposes,” Kyungsoo said pulling out his phone. His hands were still shaking.

“Okay, is it alright if I hook your phone up to my computer?” Baekhyun asked as Kyungsoo began going through his texts.

He nodded and handed the phone to him.

After connecting them Baekhyun scrolled through his program and sighed. “This is going to take a few hours. I’m not even sure if I can get what I need.”

“It’s okay, thank you for helping me.” Kyungsoo managed a half smile. In a much shyer voice, Kyungsoo said, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really nice?”

A disbelieving smile appeared on Baekhyun’s face before he bursting out laughing. “Not like that.”

Kyungsoo blushed and looked away as Baekhyun ruffled his hair fondly. “I should get going before Seokjin and Namjoon freak out.”

“I’ll walk you,” Baekhyun said as he sprang to his feet. “Do you want your phone back?”

“How long would you need it for?” Kyungsoo asked.

“A few hours at the least, at the most a week.”

Kyungsoo stared at his phone for a second. “You won’t go through anything will you?”

“No, I’d only isolate the number and the texts you’ve received from the guy.” Baekhyun waited for Kyungsoo to decide as they regarded each other for a second.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo finally replied. They stared at each other for another second before Kyungsoo finally looked away, checking his pockets for his keys and his pills.

“Ready to go?” Baekhyun asked once Kyungsoo looked up.

Kyungsoo nodded and followed Baekhyun out of the apartment.

The walk back was quiet, neither of them willing to fill the silence. Baekhyun looked over at Kyungsoo several times like he wanted to say something, but he ended up looking away and continuing their silent walk.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say in a situation like this. He still felt some embarrassment because of how vulnerable he had been in front of Baekhyun, but the elder never teased him about it or brought it up.

As they got closer to Seokjin’s apartment, the two of them began drifting closer and closer to each other until Kyungsoo only had to move his hand a little to reach Baekhyun’s. Still no words between them, Baekhyun turned his head to smile at Kyungsoo. Caught by surprise, Kyungsoo attempted to smile back, but he wasn’t sure his face knew what it was doing with the result looking closer to a grimace.

Baekhyun finally laughed breaking the silence and gently nudged Kyungsoo. “How much farther?”

Kyungsoo glanced around seeing a familiar convenience store. “Just up ahead.” He pointed towards the brick apartment building in front of them.

When they reached the front door, Baekhyun stopped. “I have either Seokjin or Namjoon’s number. When I’m done with your phone I’ll call one of them.”

Kyungsoo nodded fingering his keys in his pocket.

“Don’t walk around by yourself, even if it’s during the daytime. Anyway,” he continued in a much lighter tone. “If you need someone to walk with, call me. I might be available.” Baekhyun threw him an over-exaggerated wink.

Kyungsoo scoffed, but a smile appeared on his face.

“See you then.” Baekhyun backed up towards the street. “Stay safe!”

“Bye,” Kyungsoo said giving an awkward wave to Baekhyun who was halfway across the street already.

Baekhyun grinned and gestured to Kyungsoo to go inside, before finally turning around.

Walking in Kyungsoo’s smile melted away as the fear he had settled in again, but, unlike before, he no longer felt a sense of hopelessness.


	7. Chapter 7

On his way home, Baekhyun stopped by a convenience store and picked up a bag of chips, some toothpaste, and a six pack of beer. As he waited for the cashier to give him his total, he pulled out his phone to check the time. Eight twenty-three. Over an hour had passed and Baekhyun didn’t even realize it. Time sure flies when you’re tracking down a stalker with a really cute guy!

Instead of going straight home, Baekhyun walked around the neighborhood for a few more minutes trying to process what Kyungsoo had just told him. He took another lap.

When he had originally tried to trace the sender, the phone wasn’t on the grid. After a few hours of messing around, Baekhyun had finally managed to sort of pinpoint the location and transfer it onto a map. Based on that alone, the person on the other end wasn’t as skilled as he was. The only problem was that the guy was skilled enough to keep the location pretty general. Baekhyun had tried multiple ways to shrink down the area, but none of them worked. He reached the front of his apartment building again. One more lap.

With Kyungsoo’s texts he could probably narrow it down even more, because when the texts were sent, the person probably wasn’t as on guard, especially in the beginning. But would that make a difference? He could’ve gone back and erased everything. The one thing that reassured Baekhyun was that nothing could ever truly be erased, but if Kyungsoo’s stalker had tried to delete everything it would be a pain to restore.

He looked up and realized that he was right next to his building again. Shaking himself out of it, he walked into the lobby and went to the elevator.

When Baekhyun finally got home, Sehun and Jongin were laying on the carpet while Chanyeol strummed his guitar. At the sound of the door opening, Jongin and Sehun perked up with Jongin flashing a lazy smile towards him.

“Hyung! You’re home!” Jongin spread his arms out whacking Sehun in the process.

“Ow, stop it,” Sehun grumbled. He reached his arm out towards Baekhyun and gave a grin as well, albeit a little more mischievous looking. “Hyung, are you busy today?”

“Yes, he is. Baekhyunnie is going to the bar with me today. We’re going to be classy,” Chanyeol said with a wide, innocent-looking grin.

Sehun scoffed and sat up. “Hyung, what about tutoring? You said you were going to do it sometime this week. That was two weeks ago.”

Baekhyun took off his coat setting his grocery bag down and glared at the three of them. “Did you forget about my blind date? What if I had the time of my life and I was getting busy with him? What would you have done then? What if I’m about to bring him in through the door but you’ve ruined my chances of having a great night because you didn’t ask beforehand? What if you three scared him away and I end up forever alone because that was my soulmate?”

Chanyeol and Sehun stared at Baekhyun blankly trying to comprehend his onslaught of words.

“Also, weren’t you hanging out with some people Jongin? Why are you here?” Baekhyun asked.

Jongin was also in a state of shock from Baekhyun’s long line of questioning and could only stare at him blinking.

“By the way, my date went terribly, thank you.” Baekhyun turned on his heel taking his groceries with him and stomped off towards his room.

The minute he got to his bedroom, he checked to make sure that no one had tampered with his software. He didn’t think that any of the three would do it on purpose, but Chanyeol and Jongin always liked messing around with his things; Sehun just liked to look.

After seeing that the phone was still syncing, he pulled out his chips. Munching on them, he left his room again to put his beer into the fridge.

Chanyeol appeared from his left side and grabbed the beer from him, and put an arm around his shoulders.

“Sorry, what happened?”

Baekhyun scrunched his nose. “I tried today. I dressed up nicer and I tried not to go off on tangents.”

Chanyeol nodded and shot Sehun and Jongin a look when they snickered.

“I walk in and the asshole, what was his name? I don’t even remember. He looks me up and down and gives this disappointed sigh.”

Chanyeol put on a disappointed face and patted Baekhyun on the back consolingly.

“Then, we order our food and I get this nice pasta and he says, ‘You’re paying for that right?’ I was tempted to say that I forgot my wallet, but I’m a better person than him.”

Sehun coughed from the living room and Baekhyun saw him put his face in Jongin’s shoulder out of the corner of his eye.

“Stop laughing, you brat. He insulted my eyeliner.” A scandalous gasp came from Chanyeol.

“He what?”

“Luckily, someone needed something from me, so I left early. I paid for my meal, by the way.” Baekhyun finished his bag of chips and glared at the empty bag.

“Wow, what an asshole. Who set you up?” Jongin asked.

“Jongdae’s boss, Junmyeon.”

Sehun began cackling from the floor. “Why would you do that?”

Baekhyun walked over to the couch and flopped down on it dejectedly. “I don’t know. I just thought that a date would be nice.”

Chanyeol sat down next to him and pulled out his guitar again. “Do you want me to play you a song?”

Baekhyun buried his head in a pillow and shook his head. “No.”

“Want to watch a movie then, hyung?”

Sehun jostled Jongin whispering loudly, “But what about tutoring?”

Baekhyun groaned into his pillow and kicked his leg out in the general direction of Sehun’s voice. He didn’t hit anything, but he heard a yelp come from Sehun.

“Did you bring your stuff?” Baekhyun asked with his face still in the pillow.

“Yes! We’re learning how to loop images and text over and over again,” Jongin said as he got up to grab his laptop and noted from his bag.

Sehun dragged his butt across the floor and got his face right up to Baekhyun’s. “Are you really going to help us, hyung? Are you sure you don’t want us to comfort you?”

This time Baekhyun’s kick landed.

~

“HYUNG, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”

Jumping a little because of Namjoon’s voice, Kyungsoo tripped as he walked through the door back into Seokjin’s apartment. He picked himself up and looked up, wide-eyed and confused.

“Oh my god, I thought that you were going to die.” Namjoon patted down Kyungsoo as if he was checking that all his body parts were in place, then pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

Jungkook and Taehyung perked up in interest behind them and Yoongi held up a hand in greeting from the kitchen counter.

“You want to watch a movie, hyung?” Taehyung asked, holding up a My Neighbor Totoro DVD.

Seokjin popped his head out of the kitchen and pointed a finger at Kyungsoo. “Don’t ever do that again.” Then he gave Jungkook and Taehyung a look. “You guys are helping with the dishes.”

“Where did Jongin go?” Kyungsoo asked looking around the room as Namjoon helped him take his coat off.

“Oh, he went to pick up Sehun from his café. He said he wasn’t coming back because he wanted to see if his tutor was available.” Namjoon put Kyungsoo’s coat down on a chair and went towards the kitchen.

Kyungsoo trailed behind him, still a little shy around everyone else even though he’d known them all for about a year now.

Yoongi put his phone down and gave an awkward smile. Or maybe he just had a bad case of constipation.

“How’s it going?” Yoongi asked. His hair was no longer colorful, just black now, and Kyungsoo found it easier to talk to him for some odd reason.

“Fine, how about you?” Kyungsoo asked giving an attempted smile as well. The two of them mirrored each other’s expressions almost down to a T.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Taehyung regarded their faces in fear as he handed Jungkook a plate to dry.

Yoongi’s face immediately morphed into indifference and Kyungsoo merely turned around in embarrassment.

“How’s Hobi?” Kyungsoo asked, pushing himself to finish their conversation.

“He’s good. Working late hours at the office.”

Seokjin grumbled a little from the fridge where he was putting things away. “It’s Saturday and it’s almost nine. What are they making him do?”

“They’re having a company dinner. And interns had to go.” Yoongi said messing around with his phone’s back.

“I barely see him,” Seokjin whined. Namjoon walked over and put an arm around his waist comfortingly.

“I see him every day,” Jungkook said smirking from the sink.

Seokjin hmphed and went back to putting things into the fridge.

A few minutes later everything was put away, and the five of them sat down on the couch ready to watch the movie. Before Kyungsoo could slink away to the guest bedroom or the kitchen, Taehyung bounced up to him and dragged him onto the ground next to Yoongi and in front of Jungkook. He didn’t see it but he could feel Seokjin’s approval radiate off of him from Kyungsoo’s left.

~

In the morning, Kyungsoo found his head on Taehyung’s stomach and leaped up. When he realized that everyone was still asleep, he tried to quiet down. He went to reach for his phone but remembered that he left it at Baekhyun’s house. He grabbed Seokjin’s phone instead and saw that it was only seven in the morning.

Last night, after they had finished My Neighbor Totoro they went on to Spirited Away and went on a Studio Ghibli marathon, not stopping till two in the morning. It was a good thing Kyungsoo didn’t need much sleep or he probably wouldn’t have gotten up for the rest of the day.

Not a second after he put the phone down, it started ringing. Kyungsoo scrambled to turn it down and accidentally answered the phone.

“Hello?” the caller asked.

Kyungsoo looked from Seokjin to the phone, unsure of what to do.

“Um, I know it’s kind of early, but this is Baekhyun. I ju-”

Kyungsoo brought the phone up to his ear and answered, “This is Kyungsoo.”

“-st finished… Kyungsoo! Your phone finished syncing and I just wanted to let you know that you can come pick it up today. But let me know ahead of time, I have some stuff today.” Baekhyun’s voice was bright this early in the morning and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile hearing it.

“When is your stuff today?” Kyungsoo cleared his throat wincing at how rough it sounded.

“It’s in the afternoon until about four.”

Kyungsoo paused unsure of what he was about to say. He finally whispered, “Would you like to go to breakfast?”

“Are you busy right now?” Baekhyun asked, probably not hearing him at all. He sounded much more sure of himself in the morning. Maybe it was the sleep. Or the sunshine.

Kyungsoo glared at the phone as if it had wronged him. In a much clearer voice, he responded, “No.”

“Are you hungry? There’s this café I saw when we were walking back yesterday. I could bring your phone with me and we could have breakfast if you’re up for it.”

Kyungsoo’s smile appeared again. Trying to stop himself from whatever he was feeling, he set the phone down for a second and slapped his cheeks once. Picking it up again, Baekhyun said, “What was that? Are you okay?”

“N-nothing, I just knocked something over.” Kyungsoo rubbed his cheek in pain. The slap did nothing to assuage his giddiness and it left him with an ache on his face. “I can go, where’s the café?”

After Baekhyun gave him the directions and time, Kyungsoo put down the phone quietly and turned around to go to the bathroom. He realized, in horror, that Taehyung, Seokjin, and Jungkook were awake. Jungkook was still half asleep, but Taehyung and Seokjin looked like they had just won the lottery.

“Who was that, hyung?” Taehyung asked, grinning. He had drool going down one side of his face with his hair sticking in odd directions, but he still looked intimidating.

“Why’d you slap yourself?” Seokjin asked sporting the same grin and bedhead as Taehyung, but a relatively clean face.

“Nothing.” Kyungsoo tried to keep a poker face, but he knew it was pointless.

Seokjin carefully maneuvered his way out from under Namjoon as Taehyung jumped up and put an arm on Kyungsoo’s.

“Spill,” Jungkook said from the floor, now sitting up and completely awake.

Kyungsoo groaned and turned, trudging towards the bathroom with Taehyung still clinging to his arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments! I always struggle to answer them, but I love reading them (≧◡≦)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyungsoo and Baekhyun on a date ft. the worst spies ever

Kyungsoo walked into the café wearing clothes he had borrowed from Seokjin, which meant that he was pretty pink. When he tried to leave with the clothes he wore last night, Taehyung and Seokjin had refused to let out of the apartment.

“You smell like cheap alcohol and sweat, Kyungsoo.” Seokjin folded his arms over disapprovingly. 

“Also, that’s a lot of black. The weather’s supposed to be nice today. Warm too,” Taehyung said leaning against the door and fanning himself.

“Twenty-six degrees Celsius,” Jungkook said checking his phone. He was now sitting at the kitchen table and smirking to himself.

“W-what do you want me to do? Change the weather?” Kyungsoo wasn’t used to all the attention being dumped on him at the moment, and tried to back away towards the bathroom again.

Namjoon was still sleeping, but Yoongi opened one eye, joining in on the conversation. “Goblin?”

“No, I think he’d be the goblin’s bride,” Seokjin said as he walked towards Kyungsoo, almost threateningly. No, scratch that, definitely threatening.

Taehyung sat down on the doormat and nodded affirmatively. “Yeah, except he’s not quite as underage, or bubbly.”

“Kyungsoo, you’re changing your clothes.” Seokjin was slowly cornering him in the hallway.

“I’m fine like this. Baekhyun won’t care, I’m just getting my phone from him.” Kyungsoo glanced around the room, trying to figure out an escape route.

“Your first date with him in daylight. Don’t you want it to be a little less… grungy?” Seokjin asked, as Taehyung slung an arm around Kyungsoo and opened the door to Seokjin’s bedroom.

“Also, are you sure that he’s not _that_ guy?” Seokjin’s demeanor changed with the question, and he looked very suspicious suddenly.

“Yes, he didn’t know anything when I asked him about the book,” Kyungsoo answered as Taehyung took off his coat for him. He was having way too much fun with this.

“Really?” Seokjin was still wary, but he had begun to go through his closet.

“He had no idea what I was talking about.” As Kyungsoo said this, Taehyung took a whiff of him and his face scrunched up in disgust.

“Why do you smell so bad, hyung?”

“Because you spilled beer and then drooled on me,” Kyungsoo said giving Taehyung an unimpressed look.

“Hyung, did I ever tell you how sassy you are sometimes?” Taehyung said, but he shot him a sheepish grin.

Seokjin threw a pink t-shirt at Kyungsoo. “You don’t want something ridiculous, so I’ll just let you borrow a t-shirt.”

“Don’t you have any darker ones?” Kyungsoo said holding up the light pink t-shirt disbelievingly.

“Sure.” Seokjin threw him a magenta one.

“Never mind,” Kyungsoo said, accepting the first one.

~

He should’ve just taken his stuff and ran. Honestly, he should probably just take his phone and run.

No longer smelling like the back end of a shady alley, and dressed in a clean pink tee and _black_ jeans, thank the lord, Kyungsoo walked into the café, ready to make a run for it at any moment.

He quietly slinked in, staying closer to the wall. Luckily, his t-shirt blended in with the decor as he tried to surreptitiously search for Baekhyun.

Baekhyun was sitting at the opposite end of the room near a window. He looked much more put together than Kyungsoo felt and was perusing the menu.

Making his way to the table, Kyungsoo sat down quietly in front of Baekhyun. Baekhyun almost dropped his menu, startled by Kyungsoo’s silent appearance, before breaking out into a sweet smile.

“It's been awhile, over twelve hours, I think,” Baekhyun said putting down his menu.

“Right, um, did you sleep well?” Kyungsoo asked, before berating himself for asking such a weird question.

Baekhyun didn't seem to notice Kyungsoo’s internal meltdown as he shook his head laughing. “No, Jongin and Sehun bothered me to help them with homework, but instead we ended up watching Spirited Away.”

“Oh, we watched that too,” Kyungsoo said. He was messing around with the sleeve of Seokjin’s shirt as he looked at Baekhyun through his eyelashes trying to use anything as a buffer between the two of them.

“Oh, really, what was your favorite part?” Baekhyun asked leaning forward on his elbows.

As Baekhyun and Kyungsoo began talking rather animatedly about the movie, two men in office attire walked in and sat near them.

“I shipped them too! I mean one’s a super old dragon and the other’s a young girl, but I was really young when I watched it for the first time,” Baekhyun said before being interrupted by the waitress.

~

“Why did Yoongi want you to spy on my best friend?” the first guy asked, as they stared at the table next to them.

“Actually, that was Seokjin,” said the second guy as he flagged down a waiter. “Yeah, I’d like a seafood omelette, a glass of orange juice, some bacon, a slice of french toast, some blueberry pancakes, milk, and do you guys serve lobster right now?”

The waiter looked a little flustered as he answered back, “No, sir, we serve that after eleven-thirty every day.”

“Okay, thank you. That’ll be all.”

The waiter went to leave, but the first man stopped him. “I haven't ordered yet.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry,” the waiter said turning red as he pulled his notepad back out.

“I’ll have the breakfast sandwich right here.” He pointed to the one on the front of the menu. “And a glass of water.”

“Great choice, it's our most popular,” the waiter said as he took the menus from them.

After apologizing one more time, the waiter left and the first man turned to the second grumbling, “Why do you always order so much? Seriously, Hobi, I'm not paying for all of that.”

Giving him his best aegyo, Hoseok pulled out finger hearts and gave a pout, “Please, I promise I’ll treat you out next time.”

Still glaring, the man rolled his eyes and went back to spying on Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

“You don’t think they’ll notice us, will they?” Hoseok asked as he pulled a napkin off the table and tested out how well he could tie it around the bottom half of his face.

“Well, Baekhyun looks to absorbed to notice either of us, and Kyungsoo, that's Kyungsoo right? He doesn't look like he’s going to be looking anywhere else right now.” Sighing, the man put a head on Hoseok’s shoulder, expensive breakfast forgotten. “I want to be young and in love.”

“Aren't you and Baekhyun the same age?” Hoseok asked leaning his own head on top of the man’s.

“It doesn't matter. This job has aged me.”

The two of them closed their eyes and sat there in silence for a few minutes.

“Ahem.” The waiter from before awkwardly tried to wake the men up as he put their breakfast in front of them.

Eyes flying open, Hoseok checked to make sure that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were still there and unaware of their presence before looking to the waiter and smiling. “Thank you!”

Turning to the man next to him, he shook him, “Jongdae, wake up.”

“No.”

“Jongdae, seriously, our food is here.” Hoseok grabbed a fork and started with his pancakes. “Also, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are making out.”

Before Jongdae could shoot out of his seat and shout, Hoseok grabbed him by the shoulders and covered his mouth. “I’m just kidding, but your sandwich is here!”

Jongdae looked over at their table and saw that they were still talking, albeit over plates of food now.

“I’m not paying anymore.”

“Aw, hyung, please?”

“Nope.”

“Pleeaaaaaasss-”

Jostling Hoseok, Jongdae stared at Baekhyun in amazement.

“He just blushed.”

“What?” Hoseok was still concerned over the payment of his food.

“He’s blushing. Why is he blushing? What is this? Are they actually going to kiss?”

“Oh, let me get my phone out!” Hoseok said pulling up the camera on it.

Baekhyun was reaching over, his hand getting closer and closer to Kyungsoo’s face.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss,” Jongdae chanted quietly under his breath while Hoseok’s hands began shaking from excitement.

Kyungsoo looked up at Baekhyun a bit alarmed but made no move to lean back.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, ki- AGH GODDAMMIT!”

Everyone in the restaurant, including Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, looked towards Jongdae in alarm as Hoseok dragged him down under the table and grabbed a napkin to cover his own face.

Baekhyun had only moved his hand forward to get a piece of dust off of Kyungsoo’s hair.

“That little shit. I pull an all-nighter and don't go home just so I can spy on him, and he doesn't even kiss him?” Jongdae was whispering underneath their table. Hoseok continued to shove food into his mouth from underneath the napkin covering his face as he gestured for Jongdae to stay down.

“You’re so lucky we’re in a booth right now, or we’d be so screwed,” Hoseok said over a mouthful of toast.

“Stop eating and tell me what’s going on,” Jongdae hissed as he reached up to get his sandwich.

A manager came up to them, just as Jongdae brought the plate underneath the table. “Sir, please keep it down.”

“Of course, I’m so sorry about that,” Hoseok said, still keeping the napkin to his face.

The manager was about to leave when he noticed Jongdae underneath the table still eating his sandwich and peeking out every once in a while to check on Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

“He dropped something and he’s looking for it right now,” Hoseok said with a smile.

The manager nodded uneasily and left with a very confused look on his face.

“Get up, before we draw more attention to ourselves,” Hoseok said as soon as he was sure that no one was looking at them anymore.

Jongdae flapped his hand in Hoseok’s general direction, staring intently at Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

~

“Did you know Namjoon before we met each other? He mentioned you once or twice before,” Kyungsoo said, much more open than when he first came in.

“Oh, yeah. I’m technically only a grade above him because I switched majors halfway through. I had a question about something we learned, and Namjoon answered it for me. I don’t have many classes with him, but he seems like a pretty nice guy.” Baekhyun took a sip of his drink slowly and Jongdae saw Kyungsoo visibly gulp.

~

“I think he’s as thirsty as I am, Hobi.”

“Okay, hyung, when did you get so invested in this relationship? We’ve literally been watching them for less than twenty minutes.”

“Shut up, I can ship whoever I want.”

~

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asked as Kyungsoo stared at him in a daze.

“Hm?” Kyungsoo realized what he was doing and sat up stiffly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You look good in pink,” Baekhyun said grinning a little. Kyungsoo was probably unaware of how soft and huggable he looked in his oversized tee.

“Um, thank you…” Kyungsoo looked for something to compliment Baekhyun on. “You look good when there’s light.”

~

Hoseok choked on his food as Jongdae got out from underneath the table and sat back in his seat, trying not to laugh out loud.

“Did he just-” Hoseok looked from Jongdae’s laughing form to Kyungsoo’s mortified one.

~

“I-I mean, the lighting’s good here, and-” Kyungsoo tried to explain what he meant as Baekhyun gave an amused smile.

“Thanks, you look good when there’s light too.”

~

“Baekhyun, that was so cheesy, you turd. At least be original.” Jongdae picked up his glass of water and downed it in one gulp. Hoseok had finished the rest of his food and was sitting contentedly while watching the scene fold out in front of him.

~

“Here’s your phone. I got all the information I needed. I’ll let you know if I find anything out,” Baekhyun said quietly enough that no one could hear him.

~

Hoseok turned to Jongdae. “What’d he say?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jongdae called the waiter over for their check. “I need sleep. They aren’t going to kiss, so I’m going home.”

“But, hyung, I was asked to keep an eye on them for the rest of the day!” Hoseok whined.

“I know Baekhyun, he’s not going to pull anything, just let them be.” Jongdae got up stretching, ready to leave.

“But I agreed! And if I back out, I’m going to get in so much trouble.” Hoseok had grabbed onto Jongdae’s sleeve and was shaking it back and forth.

“Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked, eyes widening.

“Fuck, abort mission, abort mission. Hoseok, get the fuck off of me.” Jongdae pushed the two of them out of the booth, because Hoseok had decided that they needed to sit on the same side, and made a run towards the door.

“Have a nice-” the waiter managed to get out before Hoseok and Jongdae were out the door and running towards Jongdae’s car.

~

Kyungsoo squinted at the two men running away. “Was that…Hobi?”

“What just happened?” Baekhyun asked as they both continued to watch Hoseok and Jongdae flail their way into a very nice car.

“I…I have no idea,” Kyungsoo said. He looked over to where the two of them were sitting. One of them had left a bag.

Getting up, Kyungsoo pointed to the bag. “I think they left something.”

Baekhyun quickly called over a waiter to pay for the food, while Kyungsoo went to get it.

When Kyungsoo took the bag, after explaining to the waiter that it was one of their friend’s, Baekhyun got and handed Kyungsoo his things.

“That’s Jongdae’s.” Baekhyun rifled through the bag. He pulled out a picture of a pretty girl smiling with the man from earlier. “Yup, this is definitely his.”

“Um, should we return it to them?” Kyungsoo asked pointing to Jongdae and Hoseok who seemed to have realized that Jongdae had left his bag.

“Nope!” Baekhyun closed the bag and grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Kyungsoo looked down at their hands and then at Baekhyun, who looked anywhere but at Kyungsoo.

“A-a walk?”

“Yup. If they want the bag back, they’re going to have to get it.” Baekhyun grinned mischievously.

With that, the two of them walked out of the café in the opposite direction of Hoseok and Jongdae.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't even know what just happened


	9. Chapter 9

“Why did you change majors?” Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun as they walked the streets.

Baekhyun held up two fingers with his free hand.

They had let go of each other’s hands a few seconds after leaving the café, much to the chagrin of Baekhyun. Kyungsoo had awkwardly let go turning red at the ears, mumbling something about sweaty hands.

“The first reason is going to sound cocky, but I had gotten better than most of my teachers and any of the classes offered.” Baekhyun laughed a little, swinging Jongdae’s bag between them.

“Why didn’t you just go to a different school?”

“I have a really good scholarship here.”

Nodding, Kyungsoo looked to Baekhyun to continue.

“Second, I wanted to know more about the way people think. I wasn’t that interested in science, but the science behind why humans do what they do? That’s something I was definitely up to explore.”

Kyungsoo looked at Baekhyun with some admiration before turning to look at the road in front of them instead.

“What have you learned?” They crossed the street.

“That people are just as complicated as I thought they were.” Baekhyun turned to Kyungsoo no longer smiling, but looking rather pleased about something nonetheless. “Why did you go into literature?”

Kyungsoo went back to playing with his t-shirt as they moved aside for a dog and its owner to pass by them.

“I just kind of did.”

Noticing Kyungsoo putting up his guard again, Baekhyun continued. “That guy from earlier, the bag owner-” He held up the black bag for a second. “-he works at a publishing company. Reads a lot. He majored in business, but he minored in literature. He’s my friend, well, maybe not anymore.” Baekhyun began laughing again. “I don’t know why he was back there, but I definitely think that he was stalking me.”

Kyungsoo tensed up, hearing those words. “He doesn’t…he doesn’t know who I am does he?” He was looking down at the sidewalk, but turned to face Baekhyun.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he realized what Kyungsoo was implying. “No, no way. He has a girlfriend and he barely knows what hacking is. He always thinks I’m talking about meat. He hasn’t been to Busan in the past six months.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo said, less suspicious now, trying not to smile at Baekhyun’s panic. “I believe you.”

Sighing with relief, Baekhyun sagged and leaned in a little closer to Kyungsoo. “Would you like to go anywhere? It’s a nice day and I have time.”

“Do you have anywhere you want to go?” Kyungsoo put a hand in his pocket as he reached up to pluck a leaf from a nearby tree.

“Well, Chanyeol’s been bothering me the whole day about work. When he found out I was seeing you today, he kept asking for me to bring you there.”

“Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo said slowly. His mouth formed an small O when he realized who Baekhyun was talking about. “The tall one?”

“Yeah. He won’t ever tell you, but he’s a really good producer. Like one of the best. It’s the reason we can afford that apartment I live in.” Baekhyun reached over and took the leaf that Kyungsoo was turning between his fingers, before replacing it with a flower he had picked. “But I pull my own weight too.”

“Really?” Baekhyun turned to protest against Kyungsoo’s doubt in his moneymaking abilities, but he noticed a teasing glint in his eyes as Kyungsoo studied the flower.

“You have no idea how skilled I am, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun wiggled his fingers while he raised his eyebrows a few times.

Scoffing a little, Kyungsoo reached up to drop the flower on top of Baekhyun’s head, then looked him in the eye. “Let’s just go visit Chanyeol.”

~

“Kyungsoo!” Before Baekhyun or Kyungsoo could do anything to stop him, Kyungsoo was smothered by a hug from Chanyeol.

Unsure of whether to sucker punch him in the stomach or hug him back, Kyungsoo settled for patting Chanyeol’s back, while looking Baekhyun in the eye with a look that clearly said, “Help me”.

Baekhyun stifled a laugh as he pried Chanyeol off of Kyungsoo.

“What about me? Do I not get a hug?”

Chanyeol pouted and put his head against Kyungsoo’s shoulder with the latter almost falling over from the unexpected weight. “I don’t want anything from you, you betrayer.”

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders at Kyungsoo and plopped down on a couch. “Why don’t you give Kyungsoo a tour? I’m going to go look for Sunyoung.”

“Why?” Chanyeol asked whatever grudge he had forgotten.

“Because I have her boyfriend’s bag.” He held up the bag Jongdae left at the café. “She’s here today right?”

Chanyeol hummed in affirmation. “Yeah, she took the day off so she’s wandering around here somewhere.”

Baekhyun nodded and winked at them before leaving the room.

“Okay, time for a tour.” Chanyeol made a grand sweeping gesture. “This is where I work. That’s the sound booth. That’s where I sleep when I’m tired. That’s my mini fridge because _mini fridges_. And I work things out by walking around the building,” Chanyeol ended.

“Do you all talk this fast?” Kyungsoo asked barely keeping up with Chanyeol.

“Haha, you mean me and Baekhyun? Yeah.” Chanyeol gave a bright smile. “Do you want to see anything else? There’s not much here other than my stuff.”  
   
“It’s fine.” Kyungsoo turned in a circle to look at the room again. Everything seemed very high tech and he didn’t want to mess around with anything.  
   
“Here I’ll show you something I’m working on. I have lyrics, but I haven’t found someone to sing them for me yet.” Chanyeol sighed. “Jongdae and Baek refuse to do it because I made them sound really weird last time.” Snickering a little, he continued, “But they sounded great, in my opinion.”  
   
Kyungsoo awkwardly nodded as he tried not to think of all the things Chanyeol could have possibly done. “Baekhyun sings?”  
   
“Baekhyun’s pretty good at singing, although he doesn't like letting people know that. Oops.” Chanyeol gave a knowing smirk when Kyungsoo looked Chanyeol with a firm look in his eyes. “Can you sing? I need someone - “  
   
“Someone who doesn’t know how weird you are.” Baekhyun came in without Jongdae’s bag and gave a sarcastic smile to Chanyeol.  
   
“Well it wasn’t my fault your voices came out so high,” Chanyeol said eyes wide.  
   
“It was your fault that we sounded like we were on crack.” Baekhyun walked up next to Kyungsoo and nudged him in the shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t know he was going to do this or I wouldn’t have left you with him.”  
   
Kyungsoo shook his head. “It’s okay. I can try singing if you want. As long as no one else finds out about it.”  
   
“Wha-” Baekhyun started.  
   
“Okay!” Chanyeol hurried to shut the door, then put an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders and led him towards the recording booth.  
   
“Why?” Baekhyun looked beyond confused as Chanyeol quickly set up the equipment and explained to Kyungsoo how it worked.  
   
“I always wanted to try something like this,” Kyungsoo said, shrugging his shoulders, but he wasn’t meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. He messed with the headphones and Chanyeol handed him the lyrics.  
   
“Listen to it a few times and then you can start. I have the lyrics, kind of, in this demo, but it’s me singing it, so it’s not the best thing to follow.” Chanyeol wasn’t as smiley as before, but he was bouncing on his feet as he walked around to fiddle with the buttons.  
   
“How did you-When-What?” Baekhyun said as he watched Kyungsoo listen to it a few times and mouth the words to it.  
   
“I think your boyfriend is a bit competitive,” Chanyeol said smirking a little.  
   
“What do you mean?”  
   
“The second I said you refused, he seemed like he wanted to do it. And then I told him you don’t like when people know you can sing.” Chanyeol hummed a little to himself as he pressed a few more buttons.  
   
“What are you talking about? Do we need to have another karaoke night?” Baekhyun looked from Chanyeol to Kyungsoo. “But that was really fast. How did you convince him? That can’t be it.”  
   
“You’re the psychologist. Shouldn’t you know that people are unpredictable?” Chanyeol finished with the sound booth and gave Kyungsoo a thumbs up. “Whenever you’re ready?”

Kyungsoo gave a small smile as he flipped through the pages once more.

“You aren’t actually going to use this are you?” Baekhyun eyed Kyungsoo warily.

“Depends on how bad he is. Also, I can just autotune the shit out of it.” Chanyeol sat back and grinned to the ceiling dreamily saying, “Yeah, I can just do that.”

“Does Kyungsoo know what he’s doing?”

“I don’t think so.” Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows a little as he thought harder about it. “No, I don’t think I told him anything about it.”

The two of them jumped back a little when Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “I’m ready.”

“Yay! Okay, I’ll give you the cue to start singing.” Baekhyun looked a little more frantic as his head whipped around to look from Kyungsoo to Chanyeol to Kyungsoo again.

“Wait, we aren’t actually doing this are we?” He put his face up to the window where Kyungsoo was about to start. Kyungsoo jumped a little at Baekhyun’s face smushed up against the glass. “Kyungsoo, don’t do it. I couldn’t listen to myself speak for months after he edited that one song.”

Chanyeol yanked Baekhyun off of the glass. “Don’t get it dirty!” To Kyungsoo, he pumped his fist in the air. “Hwaiting! Don’t worry, I’ll only do minimal autotune if you suck.”

Kyungsoo gave an unsure nod as he stared at Baekhyun and Chanyeol pinching each other.

Chanyeol managed to press the button to start the music and the recording as Baekhyun managed to pinch his butt extra hard. “YAH! START WITHOUT ME KYUNGSOOOO-”

Staring at them with wide eyes, Kyungsoo started, while questioning how he got into this situation in the first place.

Within seconds, Baekhyun and Chanyeol froze.

They listened for a good minute before Chanyeol finally elbowed Baekhyun in the ribs, whispering, “You didn’t tell me he was this good.”

Baekhyun was too shocked to elbow Chanyeol back. “I…I didn’t know.”

The two of them spent the rest of the song staring at Kyungsoo in shock.

When he finally finished the song, Chanyeol began clapping. Kyungsoo, feeling much more self-conscious than when he started out, looked to see Baekhyun’s reaction.

Baekhyun was looking at him with a small smile on his lips. It was much less friendly and a lot more intimate than his usual smiles.

Kyungsoo stepped out of the booth avoiding the wires on the ground and walked towards Baekhyun with a small smile of his own.

Chanyeol looked between the two of them and tried not to clap too loudly, slowly and quietly backing away.

“You can sing too?” Baekhyun asked.

“I used to be in my high school’s choir.” Kyungsoo said still smiling.

“I used to do musical’s.” Baekhyun took a step closer to Kyungsoo, but paused suddenly and backed away giving an awkward laugh as he looked in Chanyeol’s direction.

“No, don’t stop. This is making my day.” Chanyeol gestured for them to continue. “This is way better than those rom-coms Jongdae makes me watch.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and plopped himself on the sound board’s table. “Why did I think visiting you would be a good idea?”

Chanyeol’s smile got infuriatingly brighter. “Because it was. I got a good start of a song and you got to sing.” He looked to Kyungsoo. “That’s why you agreed, right?”

“One of the reasons,” Kyungsoo said as he and Chanyeol shared a look.

“We’re leaving. You’re corrupting him. First Jongdae, now you. This is a terrible second impression of my friends.” Baekhyun grabbed Kyungsoo’s sleeve and tugged him towards the door. “Let’s visit someone else.”

Chanyeol began pouting again and Baekhyun stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

“By the way, Sunyoung is looking for you,” Baekhyun said before shutting the door.

“Yay, more people,” Chanyeol said to himself as he looked at the picture on his lock screen sadly.

Baekhyun seemed to have a sixth sense as his head popped back into the room. “Stop moping over that bitch and go outside. Jongdae’s coming over with his coworker, Hoseok.”

He shut the door again.

“Okay…” Chanyeol said as he began dialing Jongdae’s phone number.


	10. Chapter 10

After another half an hour of walking around and talking, Baekhyun got a call from a friend and had to leave.

Kyungsoo walked home by himself and tried not to think too much about Baekhyun. When he got back to Seokjin’s apartment, Jungkook and Yoongi were sitting in the living room playing Mario Kart.

“How’d your date go?” Jungkook asked without looking up from the TV.

Kyungsoo sighed a little and shook his head. “We weren’t on a date. Also, I saw Hobi while we were having breakfast. That-that wasn’t one of you guys, was it?”

Jungkook laughed and shook his head, but Yoongi’s ears turned a bit red and he didn’t respond at all. Kyungsoo put a hand to his head as he trudged towards the kitchen. Seokjin probably asked Yoongi to set Hoseok on him.

While he got a glass of water, he checked his phone, not knowing what he was looking for. He saw several messages from Baekhyun and he opened them to take a look. 

> Baekhyun :) 9:58 AM  
>  i’m soooo lonely  
>  my friend is late  
>  we could’ve walked around for another fifteen minutes because he’s 30 minutes late  
>  haha am I bothering you?  
> 

These were literally sent minutes after they had split, but there were still more.

> Baekhyun :) 10:17 AM  
>  he’s still got another 5 minutes so i’m just going to continue spamming you. if that’s ok…?  
>  lol doesn’t matter, still doing it  
>    
>  for your viewing pleasure  
>  unless i’m scaring you away  
>  then delete this
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:21 AM  
>  I’m not sending you one
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:22 AM  
>  i can just send you another one ;)
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:22 AM  
>  don’t  
>  please  
>  do  
>  send another  
>  i’ll send you onw  
>  *one  
>  ;P
> 
>  
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:22 AM  
>  soooo...  
>  not kyungsoo anymore?
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:22 AM  
>  nope, also, i think we’re actually best friends
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:22 AM  
>  haha, what do you mean?
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:23 AM  
>    
>  i’m the cute one  
>  (in the back)
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:23 AM  
>  oh my god  
>  bestie  
>  i found you  
>  you know kyungsoo?

Before Taehyung could do anything else, Kyungsoo yanked the phone out of Taehyung’s hands and locked himself in the bathroom.

Chiding himself for being so childish, Kyungsoo leaned over the sink and sighed.

“Hyung, you know my bestie? The guy you like is my bestie?” Taehyung said knocking on the door.

“Who’s your bestie?” Jungkook said in the background.

“That guy I met at the bar? My sunbae slash forever friend slash soulmate.” Raising his voice, Taehyung said, “Platonically, of course.”

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and checked his messages. Sunbae? Soulmate?

> Baekhyun :) 10:24 AM  
>  am i being ignored?

  


Kyungsoo stared at the messages in confusion.

> Kyungsoo 10:25 AM  
>  You know Taehyung?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:25 AM  
>  kyungsoo?  
>  and yes, i do
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:25 AM  
>  How?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:25 AM  
>  we met at a bar  
>  it’s not what is sounds like  
>  taehyung was moping about his best friend or boyfriend  
>  i’m not sure which one it was  
>  i was moping about other stuff  
>  we became best friends  
>  but i didn’t get his info or anything  
>  i can’t believe you know him  
>  small world, right?  
>  are you alive?
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:26 AM  
>  Yes  
>  Taehyung wants your number, can I give it to him?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 10:26 AM  
>  haha, definitely  
>  ah, i have to go, my lame friend is here now
> 
> Kyungsoo 10:26 AM  
>  Okay, bye

Kyungsoo opened the bathroom door and glared at Taehyung. Taehyung immediately grabbed Jungkook and pulled him in front of him.

“I win, bitch,” Yoongi said from the living room still playing Mario Kart.

“Taehyung distracted me, that doesn’t count,” Jungkook said as he continued being Taehyung’s human shield against Kyungsoo.

“Too bad, it does.” Yoongi stepped into the hallway with as he said this. “What’s going on?” he asked taking in the scene.

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo said sighing again as he stepped away to go to the kitchen.

Jungkook pushed Taehyung off of himself and walked towards the living room. “Rematch.”

Kyungsoo blocked out the rest of their conversation as he checked through his phone for any other messages. As he scrolled, Taehyung sat across from him.

“Sorry, hyung. You just looked really excited, and then I saw the selfie.” Taehyung awkwardly twiddled his thumbs and kept his head down as he apologized.

Kyungsoo couldn’t stay mad at Taehyung for very long, especially since he was always so well-intentioned, so he just gently patted Taehyung’s head once before looking back at his phone. Taehyung grinned before going to watch Jungkook and Yoongi go for another round.

> Unknown 9:13 AM  
>  Do you really like Baekhyun that much? He can’t find me.
> 
> Unknown 9:20 AM  
>  Breakfast? Why are you having breakfast with him?
> 
> Unknown 9:42 AM  
>  Why can’t you just respond? I just want some recognition from my favorite person.
> 
> Unknown 9:58 AM  
>  Why won’t you just acknowledge me?
> 
> Unknown 10:19 AM  
>  Do I have to deal with Baekhyun?

Kyungsoo grabbed the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white. Spending so much time with Baekhyun made him forget why they met up in the first place. With a shaky breath, Kyungsoo got up and went back to the bathroom, the room with the only respectable lock on it. Closing the door quietly so that he no one would notice him, he sunk down onto the ground and tried to hold in his tears.

The same exact thing was happening again, and he was reminded of why he had isolated himself in the first place. He was lucky no one had gotten hurt the first time, and he didn’t want to think about what could happen this time. Realizing that he was going to have to close himself off again and avoid talking to new people, Kyungsoo could no longer hold in his tears.

At that moment, another text appeared on his lock screen.

> Unknown 10:31 AM  
>  I’m just looking out for you. There are so many people who want to take advantage of someone as great as you.

Kyungsoo swallowed drily and resisted the urge to throw his phone across the bathroom, instead opting to call Namjoon.

“Hyung? What’s up?” Namjoon sounded pretty happy. “How did that date go? Baekhyun wasn’t shady right?”

Kyungsoo looked up to the ceiling as he tried to calm himself down. “Namjoon.”

Namjoon heard the change in his tone and immediately sounded much more serious. “What’s wrong?”

“I got six messages in two hours from - “ Kyungsoo couldn’t finish.

“I’m almost to the door, hyung. I’ll be right there.” Normally, he would hang up, but Namjoon understood that Kyungsoo wouldn’t fare very well being left alone, so he continued to keep the phone up to his ear.

Kyungsoo could hear the door open from the bathroom and he heard him from the phone and from the living room. “Where’s Kyungsoo hyung?”

There were some muffled answers and Namjoon rushed over to the bathroom door to knock on it.

Kyungsoo slowly moved out of the way and unlocked the door. The second Namjoon saw Kyungsoo’s tear-streaked face, he dropped down and gave him a hug.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Namjoon managed to get the phone out of Kyungsoo’s shaking hands and checked the messages himself. His eyes widened as he read the texts.

“Do I tell the police?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, scaring Namjoon.

“Yes, definitely,” Namjoon said in a firm voice. “We need to tell them.” He looked up to see Kyungsoo’s reaction.

There was a hollow look in his eyes as he met Namjoon’s stare. “Can we not?”

Namjoon didn’t know what to say to that.

“They only made it worse last time.”

Namjoon shut the bathroom door to make sure no one else could hear their conversation and sat across from Kyungsoo facing the sink. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I-I don’t… know.” Kyungsoo clenched his fists to get them to stop shaking. “I don’t remember where I put my pills.”

“They’re probably in the kitchen.” Namjoon rose to go get them, but Kyungsoo grabbed the end of his t-shirt.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t need them.” Kyungsoo leaned his head back against the sink. “Not right now anyway.”

“Okay…” Namjoon sat back down.

For a few minutes, they both just sat there before Namjoon spoke up again.

“Hyung,” he started uneasily.

Kyungsoo looked over at him to show that he was listening.

“Um… do you think that… maybe…”Namjoon paused for a few long seconds. “Maybe, you should avoid seeing Baekhyun? Or…” Namjoon looked at Kyungsoo, almost sheepish. “Take a break?”

Kyungsoo didn’t look at him as he said, “Again?”

Namjoon moved to sit next to Kyungsoo. “Whoever this is seems really bothered by Baekhyun, and what happened last time…” He trailed off again, knowing that Kyungsoo understood what he meant.

Kyungsoo didn’t respond, picking his phone up off the ground instead. Scrolling through the messages again, Kyungsoo began laughing. “What am I supposed to do? Should I move to another country? China? Japan? Will that make a difference?”

Namjoon jolted a little, unsettled by Kyungsoo’s laughter, but put a hand on Kyungsoo’s knee. “We can report them again and hope it'll turn out better this time.”

“I can’t keep hoping.” Kyungsoo set his phone down with careful, controlled movements like he was trying not to lose it. “Namjoon, you don’t know how-” His voice cracked a little. “I can’t keep being alone. I don’t think I can do it anymore.”

Namjoon opened his mouth to respond, but he shut it again, not knowing what to say. Kyungsoo had never been very vocal about how he felt about his isolation.

Two hours later, Seokjin came home to find them still seated next to each other in silence.


	11. Chapter 11

“Hyung, were you with Kyungsoo today?” Jongin asked he sat upside down on his couch.

Sehun popped up from on the ground pointing a finger at Baekhyun. “Right, Chanyeol hyung said you guys went to visit him today.” He smirked a little. “How’d your date go?”

Baekhyun threw a pillow from the couch at Sehun and turned to Jongin. “Yes, I was. What’d you two do today?”

Sputtering from the pillow in his face, Sehun glared at Baekhyun and put the pillow underneath his elbows as he leaned forward. “Thanks for the pillow, hyung.”

“I went to take the dogs for a walk. Sehun read poetry to Vivi.” Jongin snickered as Sehun began protesting.

“I did not do that! I was just trying to see if she could understand me!”

“Then don’t read Shakespeare, even you can’t understand that.” Jongin turned back to Baekhyun. “I haven’t seen Kyungsoo hyung in a long time. Is he doing okay?”

Baekhyun looked at Jongin a little confused. “What do you mean?”

Jongin laughed a little. “The last time I saw him was about a month ago. He looked pretty tired.”

“Yeah,” Sehun piped up. “I think it was because of you.” He stuck his tongue out at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his phone. “I have to go see Jongdae.”

A second later, there was a ping from Baekhyun’s phone as his eyes widened. “Oh my god.”

Jongin scrambled up to see what Baekhyun was looking at, while Sehun continued to grumble on the ground.

“What is it, hyung?” Jongin looked at Baekhyun’s phone curiously.

“Do you see this?” He pointed at the selca of Taehyung and Jungkook. “That’s my platonic love of my life.”

Jongin squinted, a bit confused at what Baekhyun was talking about. “The platonic love of your life?”

“Never mind.” Baekhyun quickly texted something back and grabbed his keys. “I’m going. Don’t trash our apartment.”

“No promises, hyung,” Sehun shouted after him, still bitter. After they left, Sehun grinned at Jongin. “Do you want to try hacking the CCTVs?”

Frowning a little, Jongin thought about it for a second as he reached for his laptop. “Will we get in trouble?”

“We can just use Baekhyun hyung’s security system.” Sehun tugged Jongin down next to him leaning closer to him. “Please?”

Gulping, Jongin nodded and turned on his laptop. “Fine, but we have to tell Baekhyun hyung when he comes back.”

Clapping his hands together, Sehun laughed a gave Jongin a kiss on the cheek. “We’re breaking the law!” Then he turned to Jongin a little sheepish. “We’re only hacking into this apartment’s surveillance though right? I don’t want to actually get in trouble.”

Jongin laughed at Sehun’s sudden cowardice. “Yeah, you think I was going to let you hack into anything else?”

They grinned at each other before turning to the laptop.

~

“So, Kyungsoo?” Jongdae asked as his mouth turned up to form an annoyingly cute kitty smile.

“So, Sunyoung?” Baekhyun parroted back. They were sitting on his couch as they waited for Sunyoung to finish getting ready.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jongdae glared at Baekhyun just as Sunyoung came out of the bathroom.

“I’m ready. Let’s go!” She smiled and Baekhyun poked Jongdae in the stomach, hard.

“How did you even get her to like you?”

Jongdae shoved Baekhyun back into the couch and got up to join Sunyoung. “How did I get you to like me?” he asked as he helped her pull her hair back.

“You didn’t.” Sunyoung and Jongdae smiled at each other like they had an inside joke that Baekhyun wasn’t aware of.

“Gross.” He wrinkled his nose in distaste and pushed himself off the couch.

“How do you think I felt watching you and Kyungsoo?” Jongdae said taking in Baekhyun’s disgruntled expression.

“Excited, if your yelling was any indicator.” Baekhyun opened the door for Sunyoung and Jongdae while trying not to roll his eyes as Sunyoung linked arms with Jongdae.

“Are we going to see Junmyeon oppa?” Sunyoung asked Jongdae and Baekhyun.

“Yeah.” Jongdae shut the door to Sunyoung and Jongdae’s shared apartment.

“Great,” Sunyoung said with a little laugh and gave Jongdae another look. “I haven’t talked to my cousin in a few hours. It was about time.”

Baekhyun looked between the two of them trying to decipher what they were talking about as Jongdae pushed Sunyoung a little. “Stop.”

Laughing, she grabbed Baekhyun’s arm instead. “Lead the way, oppa.”

They got to the Junmyeon’s company around lunchtime and Jongdae buried his head in Sunyoung’s neck. “I just got off work, why am I back? It’s my day off.”

“Good question.” Sunyoung let Jongdae stay there for all of two seconds before shaking him off. “Why are you back?”

Baekhyun ignored their weird form of flirting and stepped into the offices. “Did Hoseok take the day off?”

“It’s a Saturday,” Jongdae wailed. Whether it was in response to Baekhyun’s question or just whining, Baekhyun didn’t know, but it answered his question well enough.

“Stop complaining, let’s just go out for lunch,” Sunyoung said, eliciting a laugh from Baekhyun and a wounded face from Jongdae. Sunyoung patted Jongdae’s arm and added, “Oppa.”

Junmyeon came out a few minutes later and the four of them went to a nice restaurant to eat. Even with all the food in front of them, Baekhyun couldn’t help but think of Kyungsoo and his heart shaped smile.

~

“I’ll stop talking to him.” Kyungsoo had made up his mind. “I’ll just avoid him.”

“Kyungsoo, I don’t think that you should just give everything up again because of this bastard,” Seokjin said, his pretty face uncharacteristically angry.

“Then should I stick next to him and wait for whoever this is to scare him way?” Kyungsoo ran his finger through his short hair, fingernails bitten down.

“We can get the police involved again. This time we’ll have a better chance because we learned from last time.” Seokjin looked at Kyungsoo pleadingly. “We can catch them. Really catch them. If you close yourself off again, they’ll just keep doing what they’re doing. Kyungsoo, we both know that you can’t do this again.”

For a second, Kyungsoo seemed like he was about to agree, but then he looked up angrily. “I sent someone to the hospital. It was bad enough when I didn’t know who it was, but Baekhyun? If something happens to him, I’m going to be hated by people I know!” Kyungsoo’s chest was heaving as he said in a quieter voice. “I’m going to hate myself.”

Luckily, Namjoon had ushered everyone else out of the apartment, so no one was there to witness Kyungsoo’s outburst.

“I’m sorry. I never would’ve entered you into that contest, if I’d known this would happen,” Seokjin said in a sad voice.

Kyungsoo sat down and closed his eyes with his hands at his head. “No. You were just trying to help, it’s not your fault.”

“Does anyone else know about your job?” Seokjin asked sitting down in front of Kyungsoo.

“Other than you, Namjoon, and Taehyung, there shouldn’t be anyone else.” Kyungsoo sighed. “But then again, they probably wouldn’t let me know.”

“You said that they reached you by using Baekhyun’s phone. Wouldn’t that mean that they knew Baekhyun ahead of time?” Seokjin tapped his fingers against the table thinking. “I’m calling Namjoon back. I’m not good at this. He can detective this better than I can.” He got up to get his phone and coat, but quickly turned back around.

“Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo looked up at him. “Don’t give up everything you have for this creepy person. We can figure this out.” Seokjin gave Kyungsoo a comforting smile and then dialed Namjoon’s number.

Five minutes later, Namjoon ran into the apartment and Seokjin ran out.

“Wow,” Kyungsoo said quietly, trying not to laugh. “You guys are pretty much parents.”

Namjoon nodded along for a second before looking up affronted. “No, we’re not.”

Kyungsoo and Namjoon stared at each other for a full minute before Namjoon finally surrendered. “Okay, maybe we are.”

“Anyway, Seokjin wanted me to work through the facts with you.” Namjoon frowned, a little confused. “I don’t know why he couldn’t do it himself, but that’s okay.”

“We’ve already done this multiple times,” Kyungsoo said raising his eyebrows.

“Hyung, I think you’ve gotten sassier since you started seeing Baekhyun,” Namjoon said, smiling but looking kind of sad instead.

The air seemed to grow heavy as the two of them grew more somber. 

“Anyway,” Namjoon said, trying to clear the air. “We know that they followed you to Busan. Who was gone during that time?”

“I don’t really keep track of people,” Kyungsoo said apologetically. “I know Taehyung went with some people though. He told me weeks ahead of my trip though.”

“He invited Jungkook, Jongin, and Seokjin come along. Everyone else was busy, although Sehun and Yoongi joined at the last minute.”

They both paused for a second. “Why do we have to go through our list of friends?” Kyungsoo asked in a defeated voice.

Namjoon buried his head in his hands for a second before whipping his head back up. “Because they broke into our apartment without actually breaking anything. Because they were the only ones who saw you with that girl, whether they thought you were dating or not. Because they were the only ones who had an inkling of knowledge about that contest!” Namjoon looked at Kyungsoo like he was breaking. “Even the police said that it was most likely one of them.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo said. “Okay then. Well, all of them knew about the contest because Seokjin mentioned it to anyone who would listen.” They both shared a weak laugh over that.

“We’ve seen the security feed dozens of times and it doesn’t show anyone.” Namjoon began tapping his fingers on the table again. “I don’t know. They must give you more space when they’re with you. They get super possessive over you over text, so they must be a little afraid to approach you, or at least a bit self conscious.”

“You’re the psychiatrist,” Kyungsoo said, when Namjoon looked to him for confirmation.

“That’s the medicine part but okay,” Namjoon said underneath his breath. A little louder, he said, “Baekhyun is actually a psychologist. I’ve heard of him vaguely. Apparently he’s pretty decent.”

Kyungsoo didn’t respond, just stared at Namjoon’s face for a minute. 

“What?” Namjoon asked grabbing a napkin and patting his face. “What is it?” 

“He’s really skilled,” Kyungsoo said in a defeated voice.

“Who? Your boyfriend?” Namjoon corrected himself when Kyungsoo began glaring at him. “I mean, Baekhyun?”

“Yeah, Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo and Namjoon’s fingers began tapping in sync.

“You should ask him for more help. He seems to really like you, and I’m not qualified for this.” Namjoon made a wide gesture in front of himself.

“He’s already looking into the texts for me. I can’t ask him to do more.” Kyungsoo sighed. “Definitely not.”

“How about this?” Namjoon looked very determined. “Ask him to take a look at the security footage.” 

Kyungsoo looked up confused.

“I suspected that there was something wrong with it, but the company and the police said that it was impossible that the footage had been tampered with, especially since there was a security officer who kept an eye on all the footage, and guarded the room where the footage was stored.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. “You don’t think…”

Namjoon nodded. “I think that it actually captured what happened that night.”

Kyungsoo’s expression fell. “But that happened over a year ago, how would we even find that?”

Namjoon suddenly looked shifty eyed. “After they closed your case, Taehyung and I may or may not have downloaded the footage for that night. And since Seokjin always gave the security guys food, he managed to get the original file.”

“The original? But aren’t the police supposed to have that?” 

“No, the police were only allowed to take a copy of it for complicated insurance reasons. The company wouldn’t let them.” Namjoon frowned. “They erase all the footage month by month, so yours would’ve gotten thrown away anyway.”

Kyungsoo was looking at Namjoon oddly again. 

“Are you sure I don’t have something on my face?” Namjoon asked.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo said, eyes shining. “You guys stole for me.”

Namjoon stopped halfway through inspecting his face and began turning a little red. “It’s nothing. You would’ve done the same. We weren’t going to let that bastard just get away like that.”

“I-thank you.” Kyungsoo gave a real smile this time. “I’m lucky you guys were with me.”

Namjoon’s while face was turning an odd shade of red and he mumbled shyly, “What are you talking about, hyung?”

Kyungsoo got up and put a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder. “I’ll ask Baekhyun if he can look at the footage. Where is it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. can't. stop. writing. [heeeellpppp meee-](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11011938)


	12. Chapter 12

Kyungsoo really hadn’t thought this through, which was why he was sitting outside of Baekhyun’s apartment door, unsure of what to do next. He had originally come with the intent on asking Baekhyun if he’d look over the footage, but the fears from earlier were bubbling up again. What if he got him hurt? What if Baekhyun refused to help him? What if they found nothing and Kyungsoo was stuck in some loop that would repeat until he gave up? Should he just give up?

He couldn’t bring himself to knock on the door, and he could hear Baekhyun in the house vaguely shuffling around, and every once in awhile a laugh from Sehun. Instead of going home or just making them aware of his presence, Kyungsoo began fingering the USB in his pocket. He had his backpack with him as well, and he wondered if he should just leave everything on the doorstep and hope it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.

“No,” Kyungsoo said to himself. Irrational fears produced irrational thoughts, although was what he was thinking irrational? What would ha-

“Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo shot up at the sound of a familiar voice. Baekhyun looked over him a bit concerned. “Hey, what’s up?”

Kyungsoo was about to answer when he saw Junmyeon standing behind Baekhyun. His eyes widened, as did Junmyeon’s, and Kyungsoo froze. What was he doing here?

“Oh, sorry, this is Junmyeon. He’s Jongdae’s boss.”

Junmyeon recovered rather quickly and laughed. “Good thing he isn’t here to hear you say that.”

Kyungsoo took in their appearances, both dressed rather nicely and suddenly felt self-conscious about his messy appearance.

“Sorry, I thought you were ho-” Kyungsoo turned to look at the door confusedly. “Wait, who’s in your home right now?”

Baekhyun looked alarmed for a split second before laughing. “Oh, it’s probably Sehun and Jongin trying to hack into the security system again.”

Junmyeon and Kyungsoo both looked at Baekhyun in alarm.

“What?” Junmyeon asked.

Baekhyun waved his hands in front of himself. “It’s not what you think! Well, it’s kind of what you think. Except I’m monitoring them.” Baekhyun cringed at how bad the explanation sounded. “It’s not illegal. I made a fake security system that they keep trying to hack into.”

“Should I be concerned?” Junmyeon asked in a very parent-like tone, and Kyungsoo held in a laugh at the familiar look Junmyeon gave Baekhyun.

“No!” Baekhyun laughed. “No, it’s… it’s handled. Haha… Why don’t we just go in?”

He unlocked the door and let the two of them in. Sehun and Jongin looked up guiltily as the three men came in and shut their laptops quickly.

“Time to go guys. You’ve been here for way longer than you should be.” Baekhyun kept the door open and gestured for them to leave.

As the boys made their way out, Kyungsoo and Junmyeon began whispering to each other while Baekhyun’s attention was diverted.

“You know Baekhyun? Does he know what’s going on?” Junmyeon let out a gasp and continued without letting Kyungsoo get a word out. “Are you the guy he’s been mooning over? Is he helping? Does he know about your b-”

Kyungsoo shut him up with a clap on the back as Baekhyun closed the door.

“Do you guys know each other already?” Baekhyun looked at the two of them curiously.

“Yes,” Kyungsoo answered before Junmyeon could. “He was my sunbaenim in high school.”

Junmyeon nodded awkwardly and smiled. “He was always a bit disrespectful to his elders.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Baekhyun walked towards the kitchen. “Water?”

Kyungsoo shook his head as Junmyeon nodded, and Baekhyun’s face broke out into a grin. “Okay, one water for the hyung.”

Kyungsoo began playing around with the USB in his pocket again as he watched Baekhyun fill up the glass.

“Um, Baekhyun, I actually came here because there was something I was wondering if you were willing to look over for me.”

Kyungsoo ignored Junmyeon’s curious look and watched Baekhyun expectantly.

“Sure, what is it?”

“The, um, the security footage from the night my dorm got broken into.”

Baekhyun glanced at Junmyeon, unsure of how to respond. Junmyeon glanced at Baekhyun, unsure of what was going on.

“Junmyeon helped me out when it happened. It’s fine,” Kyungsoo said to Baekhyun.

“Okay…” Baekhyun said dragging out the word. “I don’t know how much I can pull from a copy. If I can even pull anything at all.”

“I have the original.” Kyungsoo pulled the USB out of his pocket and Junmyeon’s eyes widened.

“Holy crap, did you steal that?” Junmyeon whispered like someone could hear them.

“No, it was given.” Kyungsoo handed the USB to Baekhyun’s open palm.

“I can definitely get something from this.” He looked excited as he turned the USB over between his fingers. “Junmyeon, your coat is over there. Kyungsoo let’s go to my room.”

Junmyeon sputtered, offended. “That’s it? Is no one going to tell me anything?”

“Later, hyung,” Kyungsoo said smiling apologetically at Junmyeon.

“Well,” Junmyeon said, always a sucker for Kyungsoo’s smiles. “I guess I’ll just see you at your next deadline.”

Kyungsoo suddenly shot him a shut up look, and Junmyeon laughed awkwardly. “I mean the next deadline for our get together. Haha. Ha…” Junmyeon hurriedly made his way out of the house.

“That’s funny. Junmyeon owns a publishing company,” Baekhyun said laughing. “Work must be getting to his head.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo agreed. “Must be getting to his head.”

“Alright, I plugged it in. It’ll take me a few minutes to get everything set up. You can take a seat wherever.”

Kyungsoo set down his backpack and sat on the very edge of the bed.

“Don’t be shy.” Baekhyun laughed when he noticed Kyungsoo’s position. “You’ve slept in it before.” He gestured to the bed.

“Right.” Kyungsoo adjusted, sitting a little more comfortably. “I’m sorry for just coming here. I just got the stuff, and I wasn’t sure what else to do with it.”

Baekhyun nodded in agreement. “It’s not like you missed me or anything.” He grinned over at Kyungsoo. “Even though we saw each other a few hours ago.”

“I-no. Yeah, no.” Kyungsoo got out.

Baekhyun just laughed and plugged in the USB. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll talk to you once I finish this.”

Kyungsoo nodded and splayed his fingers out on the bedspread. It was light blue and very soft, and Kyungsoo needed to stop thinking about the fact that he had slept in it.

“Kyungsoo, I think you should see this.” Baekhyun’s worried voice broke Kyungsoo’s thoughts and he got up immediately.

Once Kyungsoo was looking at the screen, Baekhyun hit play.

Gripping the side of Baekhyun’s chair, he saw the same things as before. It was a screen with an empty hallway and then eventually Kyungsoo and Namjoon coming back from a party and a few minutes later, leaving to report it to the security personnel downstairs.

“That’s what you saw originally right?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yes, that’s what was there originally.” Kyungsoo could feel the hope inside him rising as Baekhyun typed a few things in, and he prayed that it wasn’t unfounded.

“Look at this.” Baekhyun clicked play again.

For a minute there was the same empty hallway, but then a man came in from the elevator. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and he leaned into the screen even more. The man was wearing all black and he seemed to be pretty tall, taller than even Namjoon, based on where he stood at the door frame.

After looking around to make sure there was no one there, the man huddled over the doorknob. It was hard to see what the man was doing from the angle of the security camera, but a minute or two later, the door swung open.

Kyungsoo let go of the chair and squeezed his nails into his hands as he continued watching.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes, so Baekhyun fast forwarded, but then the door swung back open. The man had his hands shoved in his pockets and the clothes seemed to be bigger than before. Kyungsoo saw a familiar pair of socks. They were ugly and striped, and Taehyung had got it for Kyungsoo one year as a prank but they were one of his favorite. It was also one of the things that got stolen.

Baekhyun paused the video but continued to face the screen.

“They’re much more skilled now, but this wipe was done really sloppily. The image of the original empty hallway was just looped over and over again to replace the period of time this bastard was there.” Baekhyun clenched his jaw but relaxed as he turned to Kyungsoo. “There’s your footage.”

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything, just gulped and nodded as he kept another meltdown under control.

“Hey, it’s okay. We know what he looks like now.” Baekhyun grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand gently, but Kyungsoo pulled back hissing in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asked pulled Kyungsoo’s arm towards himself in concern. When he uncurled Kyungsoo’s fist, there were bleeding cuts from clenching his fists too hard.

“Kyungsoo…” Pulling his hand away, Kyungsoo turned away and grabbed some tissues.

“It’s nothing. I’ll just get it bandaged when I get back.” He went to grab his backpack, but Baekhyun stopped him.

“Wait, I’ll bandage them for you.” Baekhyun took the backpack from Kyungsoo’s hands and led him to the bathroom. Turning on the water, he grabbed a towel and got it wet before he began to wipe the cuts.

Kyungsoo winced in pain, but he didn’t move, as Baekhyun leaned against the sink and alternated between cleaning the towel underneath the running faucet and cleaning his hands.

“You should carry a stress ball with you. They’re very useful.” Baekhyun looked up to Kyungsoo and smiled sweetly.

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything as he looked from his hands to Baekhyun’s face. After a minute of this, Kyungsoo finally spoke up.

“Thank you for doing this on such short notice. And for… this.” Kyungsoo looked down at their hands.

“What kind of guy would I be if I just let you go home like that?” Baekhyun was smiling again, but he didn’t look amused, just very worried.

“I-I don’t know how many times I should thank you, but I owe you a lot.”

Baekhyun just laughed in response.

“I owe you at least twenty favors,” Kyungsoo continued. “I-” He couldn’t get his words out as he tried to keep his composure together. “I just wanted to thank you.” His voice cracked a little at the end and he hoped Baekhyun wouldn’t notice it and look up.

Unfortunately, he did. “Hey, Kyungsoo. Soo.” Baekhyun put down the towel and cupped his face when he saw Kyungsoo’s expression. “It’s okay, you don’t need to thank me.”

Baekhyun swiped his thumb to wipe a stray tear off of Kyungsoo’s cheek. “Soo, look at me.”

Kyungsoo met his eyes hesitantly as he berated himself for having the second breakdown in a day.

“You’re fine, okay? He can’t hurt you while you have people like Namjoon and Seokjin with you. And if it’s any comfort, I’m here too.” Baekhyun stroked his cheek and Kyungsoo moved his hand to hold onto the edge of Baekhyun’s shirt.

“Okay.”

They stood there for a moment before Baekhyun began leaning in and Kyungsoo began closing his ey-

“I’m home!” Chanyeol shouted from the front.

Kyungsoo almost fell over in surprise, and Baekhyun backed up, letting go of Kyungsoo’s face immediately. They looked at each other unsure of what to say, but Baekhyun quickly pulled himself together, flashing a smile at Kyungsoo, before shouting back.

“I’m over here. We have a guest over so don’t go ripping your pants off!” Baekhyun made his way out of the bathroom and into the front.

Kyungsoo stood there for a minute, shutting the faucet, before looking at himself in the mirror. He was blushing ferociously and there were still tears in his eyes.

“Damn it,” he said wiping away his tears angrily. “What are you doing?”

He pulled himself together before going back to Baekhyun’s room to grab his backpack and leave. When he stepped foot into the living room, Chanyeol looked up in surprise.

“Kyungsoo? You’re the guest? I just saw you!” Chanyeol gave a huge grin and pulled Kyungsoo onto the couch between Baekhyun and himself. “Don’t go yet! I started editing your song and it was so good.”

When Baekhyun glared at him, Chanyeol shook his head. “No, I didn’t autotune it… That much. I barely touched it! I swear. I just needed to tweak a few things.” Baekhyun was still glaring at him. “Artistic license!”

“Right,” Baekhyun scoffed and he grinned at Kyungsoo for a second, before suddenly looking away awkwardly. “Whatever, Kyungsoo has to get home. Do you want to walk him home?”

“I would say yes, but you’re acting kind of weird.” Chanyeol eyed Kyungsoo suspiciously. “He didn’t put you up to anything did he?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” Kyungsoo eyed Chanyeol suspiciously. “Do you have the song?”

“Oh, yeah,” Chanyeol said pulling out his phone. “I have it right here.”

“Okay, show him on the way home.” Baekhyun dragged Chanyeol up and picked up Kyungsoo’s backpack for him. “Sorry, I can’t walk you. I want to rewatch that video you sent me.” This time Baekhyun gave a reassuring squeeze of Kyungsoo’s hand, careful of the cuts. “Make sure you bandage this when you get home.”

“Wait, what video? I want to watch a video,” Chanyeol said, unaware of what was going on.

“No, I’ll show it to you some other time.” Baekhyun waved at the two of them as they opened the door. “See you soon, Kyungsoo. See you too soon, Yeol.”

“Right back at you,” Chanyeol said laughing “Let’s go, Kyungsoo.”


	13. Chapter 13

> Baekhyun :) 9:02 PM  
>  hey, can we talk?
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:04 PM  
>  i swear it wasn’t me
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:04 PM  
>  i didn’t say anything about it being you
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:05 PM  
>  …  
>  jongin did it though  
>  i’m serious  
>  i told him not to  
>  but he was really hungry  
>  I’M SORRY HYUNG OKAY  
>  I DIDN’T THINK HE’D ACTUALLY EAT ALL OF YOUR CHIPS
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:06 PM  
>  WAIT WHAT  
>  YOU DID WHAT
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:06 PM  
>  I SWEAR IT WASN’T ME
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:07 PM  
>  i can’t believe this  
>  you really did eat it all
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:07 PM  
>  hyuuuuung  
>  it really wasn’t me!  
>  it was jongin!!!!!!!
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:07 PM  
>  wait that’s not what i was texting you about
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:07 PM  
>  oh…  
>  okay, what did you want to tell me?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:07 PM  
>  do you like kyungsoo?
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:07 PM  
>  pffftttt, not as much as you do
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:08 PM  
>  seriously sehun, do you?
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:08 PM  
>  lol no hyung  
>  don’t worry, i won’t steal your man  
>  he’s just a super quiet hyung  
>  and you’re just a super loud hyung
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:08 PM  
>  i tutor you brat
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:08 PM  
>  i love you hyung
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:08 PM  
>  yeah okay
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:09 PM  
>  i do hyung  
>  i’d sacrifice my abs for you
> 
> Sehun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:13 PM  
>  hyung?  
>  please don’t stop tutoring me  
>  i’ll flail without you  
>  *fail  
>  and flail  
>  hyuuuuuuungggggggg

~

Baekhyun turned back to the video, squinting. He traced the source of who looped the video and it was leading to a specific location, but he didn’t want to go pointing fingers right away. Especially when it was a friend.

His phone kept buzzing and he finally picked it up ready to chew Sehun out for being a brat, but instead, he saw Jongdae’s name pop up.

> Jongdae ;) 9:32 PM  
>  BAEEKKKK U KNOW KYUNGSOO  
>  BECAUSE BOY HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU

Baekhyun squinted at the screen trying to make sure he read it correctly.

> Baekhyun :) 9:50 PM  
>  yeah, why?
> 
> Jongdae ;) 9:50 PM  
>  HE’S THE GUY I WAS TALKING AOUT  
>  *ABOUT  
>  oh lol sorry caps lock
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:50 PM  
>  what? when? where? why? how?
> 
> Jongdae ;) 9:51 PM  
>  agh, i can’t say it over text because it could be used against me

Not a second later, Baekhyun’s phone began vibrating with the screen flashing Jongdae’s face. He quickly picked up the call.

“Yooooo, that guy! The one that - oh sorry, I’ll move.” There was some shuffling and Jongdae whispered into the phone, “I’m in the office right now, and I want to leave, but no one else is, so I’m staying.” He could practically see Jongdae’s exasperated face.

“Haha, that sucks. Is it Junmyeon?” Jongdae never stopped complaining about Junmyeon. Junmyeon was actually really nice, but Jongdae himself always begged to differ.

“YES!” A pause. Suddenly, there was a loud thump. “I’m sorry! I’m really leaving now! Please put down the notebook! Ahh - ” Jongdae cut out for a few more seconds.

“Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked uncertainly.

“I - I think I’m safe now. It’s because of the information I’m about to tell you.” Baekhyun’s blood ran cold.

“What did you want to say about Kyungsoo?”

Jongdae burst out laughing on the other end. “You sound so serious! I’m kidding. I mean, I’m pretty sure Yoongi’s going to kill me, but only because I woke him up. He doesn’t even work here, why does he always have to come?”

Baekhyun ran his fingers through his hair and banged his head on the desk. “YAH, YOU IDIOT, JUST SPIT IT OUT!”

“Shit, shit, okay.” Jongdae still sounded amused on the other end. “Kyungsoo was that author I was talking about the other day. The one who no one knows.”

“The what?” Baekhyun asked wearily with his head still on the desk. He was still on the emotional rollercoaster Jongdae had just put him through.

“That really good author that I always talk about? My company publishes his books? The cute, little guy who cooked breakfast for you? The one we stalked on your date the other day? Who you won’t stop fawning over? And talking about? And his eyes are suuuper nice, and his lips are reaaallllly kissable, and his hair is - ”

“Alright, I get it. Stop.” Baekhyun and Jongdae could usually keep up with each other when they ran their mouths off, but Baekhyun needed to process what Jongdae had just told him. “So he’s an author?”

“Yup, the anonymous one.”

“What do you mean the anonymous one?” Baekhyun’s mind was all over the place at the moment and with Jongdae’s information, he was extremely confused.

“Remember how I told you about that guy who won a writing contest but wanted to be kept anonymous? It was at the beginning of the school year last year.”

“Yes? Kind of?” Jongdae ranted about a lot of things, but he did vaguely remember Jongdae fangirling over the winner of some writing contest.

“He’d chosen to keep himself anonymous for personal reasons and he was in the middle of writing his second book when he asked for a break.” Jongdae was sounding excited again. “We’re staying late because we have to go through and make a list of all the authors that are behind on their deadline and contact them, which shouldn’t be our job honestly these people need managers or something, I was looking through and I found Kyungsoo’s name, and since I kinda sorta know him and you’ve been bothering me about him really sporadically, which you need to stop, I took a look at the file and HE WAS MY MYSTERY AUTHOR.”

Baekhyun pulled the phone away from his ear, trying to salvage his hearing.

“And he’s also your crush,” Jongdae added as an afterthought.

“He’s an author? What books has he written?” Baekhyun still had no idea what he was supposed to do with this information.

“I’ve already explained that he’s an author, Baek. Are you even listening? He’s only written one book. It’s called _The River And Its Colors_. Read it.”

The name rang a bell and Baekhyun racked his brains trying to remember where it came from. It was definitely recently that he had heard it.

_“Have you ever heard of The River And Its Colors?”_

“Did Kyungsoo say why he was taking a break?” Baekhyun could almost feel the gears in his head click into place.

“No, but I heard that the police had to get involved.” Jongdae sounded like an ajhumma getting excited over a juicy piece of gossip.

Baekhyun would usually join in with Jongdae’s excitement but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of uneasiness again. “Okay, thanks, Dae.”

“Yeah.” There was clattering in the background. “Now I have to climb out of this broom closet.”

“Okay, when are you getting home?”

“I don’t know, probably in about FIVE HUNDRED YEARS.” Baekhyun winced again. The volume change was really starting to mess with his hearing.

“Get back to work, you slacker.” Baekhyun hung up before Jongdae could retort back.

An author. Baekhyun decided to store away the information for now. Just his luck that Jongdae worked for Kyungsoo’s publishing company.

He sat and went back to staring at the screen, but he was no longer paying attention to it.

An author? Was that why he was getting stalked? Kyungsoo was a literature major, but he didn’t talk about anything else he did.

Pulling up a web browser, Baekhyun searched up the book Jongdae mentioned.

“ _The River And Its Colors_ was the winner of the annual _Voices of The World_ contest in 2016. A beautifully written story of love and loss, it became published later on to become a novel winning being awarded _Book of the Year_ by the _Reader’s Association_. The author has chosen to remain anonymous.”

Baekhyun sat there dazed. Kyungsoo was an award-winning author. He had probably been bothered because of this.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened before checking when the book was published.

July 16, 2016.

Kyungsoo’s security footage was from February.

“Shit, it really was someone who knew him.” Baekhyun backed out of his chair and went to wake Chanyeol up.

~

“You want me to help you restore the sound? Why do you think I’d know how to do that if you can’t even do it?” Chanyeol said irritably. Being woken up from a deep sleep was not his thing.

“I can restore it, it’s just that there isn’t a lot of sound and I don’t know if you can focus or turn up the volume more.”

Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun and pulled him into a hug, burying his face in Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Baekhyun. Baekhyun. Baaeeekhyuuuun. You turn up the volume by _turning up the volume_.”

Baekhyun shoved him back into his pillows and glared at Chanyeol’s yawn.

“I know, but I can’t turn it up anymore without ruining my ears. I want you to help me focus it.”

Chanyeol tried to give him a withering stare, but he didn’t have the capacity to look threatening, especially when he was buried in blankets and pillows. “Fine. But I want breakfast tomorrow. Good breakfast. Like from that store across the street. With some meat.” Chanyeol’s glare began fading away as he licked his lips thinking of the food. “And yummy food. Yeah, that.” He eyelids began to droop as he began tipping forward.

“Okay, get up. I’ll get you your food if you help me out.” Baekhyun pulled Chanyeol out of bed and onto the floor in a heap of long limbs.

~

“Jin hyung, is Kyungsoo hyung okay?” Jongin asked worriedly. “He’s been looking kind of tired lately.”

“Yeah!” Taehyung piped up as he jumped onto Jongin’s back and held on koala style. “I haven’t seen hyung in such a long time. He showed up for half a second for dinner, then disappeared.”

Seokjin looked up distractedly as he whisked the pancake batter.

“He’s fine. Just dealing with stuff. Help me with this.” Seokjin nodded his head towards the stove and Jongin walked over with Taehyung still attached to his back.

“Is he coming out with his new book yet?” Jongin asked as he let Seokjin pour the batter into the pan.

“No he’s still on hiatus,” Seokjin said as he motioned for Taehyung to get off of Jongin.

“Why?” Jongin asked as he watched the batter slowly form.

“Just writing problems. Taehyung get off of him before you set the house on fire.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Jongin asked as he flipped over the pancake. “Sehun’s been asking too.”

“Me too!” Taehyung said as he put a finger into the batter and pulled out a chocolate chip. “Jungkook too! Yoongi too! Everyone too! I miss hyung.”

Seokjin swatted his hand away and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure when he’ll write something new.”

Namjoon came out at that moment shirtless.

“Why are you walking out of Jin hyung’s bedroom without a shirt?” Taehyung asked in horror.

Jongin pulled Taehyung in front of him. “I don’t need to see this.”

“You guys didn’t-last night-” Taehyung started, but was cut off by Jongin.

“Don’t finish that. We slept over last night. I don’t want to know.”

The two younger ones turned to each other. “Ewwww,” they said as Jongin dropped the pancake into the plate next to him.

“Oh my god ew.” Taehyun took another chocolate chip.

“We were here. We were in the same apartment. We were on the same floor…” Jongin said as he looked at the two of them in horror.

“Well then stop sleeping over all the time!” Seokjin said, cheeks turning pink.

Namjoon had crept back into the bedroom again.

Seokjin motioned for Taehyung and Jongin to continue cooking as he checked a notification on his phone.

> Baekhyun :) 8:30 AM  
>  hi, i know this is random but  
>  is kyungsoo an author?

Seokjin nearly dropped his phone as he took a better look at the text.

> Seokjin ◕3◕ 8:52 AM  
>  Why?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 8:53 AM  
>  one of my friends works for his publishing company

“Hyung, are you okay?” Jongin asked as Taehyung walked over concerned.

“Yeah, some stupid spam. I’m going to go make sure Namjoon doesn’t stay in the bedroom forever. Don’t eat all of the pancakes.”

Seokjin hurried and got Namjoon while he was pulling on his shirt.

“Namjoon, look at this.”

Reading the texts over quickly, Namjoon looked at Seokjin in shock.

“What do we do? Kyungsoo doesn’t want anyone to know.”

Seokjin texted Baekhyun back and showed Namjoon the screen again.

> Seokjin ◕3◕ 8:56 AM  
>  You should ask Kyungsoo

Namjoon patted Seokjin on the shoulder. “That’s the best we can do.”

“Wow, he’s fast. I hope Kyungsoo doesn’t flip,” Seokjin said as he straightened out Namjoon’s collar. “Time for breakfast. We’re going to have to let Kyungsoo sort out this matter himself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up the associations and awards so if they actually exist...wow


	14. Chapter 14

Kyungsoo was laying in bed unable to get up when Baekhyun called.

“Hello?” Kyungsoo said unsurely.

“Hey! Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun’s voice sounded bright, but a little different. “I’ve found some stuff, and also, I wanted to ask you, are you an author?”

Kyungsoo froze and stared at the ceiling.

“Kyungsoo? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” Kyungsoo gripped the phone a little tighter. “What do you mean author?”

“It’s just that my friend works for a publishing company, and it seems that one of the books is written by, well, by you.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Kyungsoo said quietly.

“I don’t know. It’s just good to have more information,” Baekhyun said uneasily.

“Okay, I’m sure it is.”

Neither of them said anything, but they both stayed on the line when Kyungsoo heard buzzing come from Baekhyun’s end.

“Well, I’ll see you sometime, I have to answer this.”

Kyungsoo nodded but realized Baekhyun couldn’t see him. “Okay.”

Baekhyun hung up and Kyungsoo let his hand fall next to him as he went back to staring at the ceiling. He felt bad for being so weird, but Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say. He flipped over and put his face into his pillow.

He picked up his phone when he felt it vibrate, but didn’t turn to look at it. Wishing that he could unwrite his one and only book, he closed his eyes and sighed.

Finally, he checked his phone. Seeing who it was, Kyungsoo’s eyes widened, but he was too exhausted to do much else. He didn’t even bother reading it as he closed his eyes again.

~

> Unknown 9:30 AM  
>  Have you figured it out yet?

Baekhyun glared at the text and typed back quickly.

> Baekhyun :) 9:30 AM  
>  figured what out?

They answered back immediately.

> Unknown 9:31 AM  
>  Who I am, of course

Baekhyun stared at his phone. Seokjin, Namjoon, and Chanyeol were the only ones who knew. Right?

> Baekhyun :) 9:31 AM  
>  not yet, would you care to share?
> 
> Unknown 9:31 AM  
>  No, but I think I’m going to have a little visit. I heard Kyungsoo’s by himself right now. Insomnia is exhausting, keeps you in bed

Baekhyun’s eyes widened and he got up out of his chair.

> Baekhyun :) 9:32 AM  
>  what do you think you’re trying to pull?
> 
> Unknown 9:32 AM  
>  We both know who I am  
>  Might as well take advantage of my freedom for a little longer, right?
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:32 AM  
>  i didn’t know you liked reading  
>  i didn’t even know you knew kyungsoo

Baekhyun left his apartment and began making his way towards Kyungsoo’s dorm.

> Unknown 9:32 AM  
>  Well now you do  
>  I was fine staying by him quietly, but you had to come in and ruin it  
>  It’s a real shame because I really like you hyung
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:32 AM  
>  don’t do this
> 
> Unknown 9:33 AM  
>  Do what?  
>  I’m just going to visit a friend
> 
> Baekhyun :) 9:33 AM  
>  you two don’t know each other well enough to be friends  
>  i’m in kyungsoo’s house rn
> 
> Unknown 9:33 AM  
>  Nice try  
>  I’m right outside his door

Baekhyun began jogging. He was still a good ten minutes away.

~

Kyungsoo’s eyes opened when he heard the knock on his door. Getting up slowly, Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes. Namjoon must’ve forgotten his things again.

He made his way to the door as he checked his phone.

> Unknown 9:27 AM  
>  I warned you.

Kyungsoo almost dropped his phone. Moving faster, he called Baekhyun.

“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun practically shouted into the phone.

“Yes?” Kyungsoo said worried by how out of breath Baekhyun was. He unlocked the top lock. “I’m coming to your apartment right now. Don’t leave.”

“No, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun sounded extremely panicked.

Kyungsoo began unlocking the second lock.

“He’s outside your door!”

Kyungsoo froze. Only the chain was left, and the doorknob began turning.

He tried to relock the door as he leaned to shut it, but the person on the other side shoved harder and the door opened with only the chain keeping whoever it was from coming in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry <3


	15. Chapter 15

Sehun was in the middle of chatting up the girl who had come into the cafe for breakfast when his boss called him over to the phone.

“Your friend says it’s an emergency. If you need to take the day off let me know.”

Sehun nodded and bowed as his boss went to take the girl’s order.

Bringing the phone up to his ear, he started with, “I swear to god Jongin if this is you I just-”

“Where’s Jongin right now Sehun?” Baekhyun’s voice made him jump, sounding out of breath but very pissed off.

“Um, I think he said he was at Seokjin hyung’s apartment. You’d have to ask him. Is everything okay, hyung?”

“I need to call you back,” Baekhyun said hanging up abruptly.

Sehun glared at the phone. “Well, fine then. I’m just going to use you as an excuse to take the day off.”

He hung up the phone and made himself look panicked, before turning to face his boss.

“Sir, my friend is in a lot of trouble, I think I need to go.” He made his eyes water a little as he pouted.

“Okay, we have enough people anyway. I’ll let it go this time.”

Sehun bowed and took off his apron, thanking his boss as he left the cafe to go find Jongin as well.

~

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Kyungsoo heard a familiar voice say.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo’s hand dropped as he saw a familiar set of eyes staring back at him.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Jongin cocked his head to the side as he gave a smile. Kyungsoo relaxed for a second before he saw Jongin’s foot wedged firmly between the door. He and Jongin both looked down and suddenly Kyungsoo was trying to push the door closed again.

“Hyung, ow, what are you doing?” Jongin put an arm between the door and the doorframe. “I just want to talk!”

“You can talk to me from behind the door,” Kyungsoo said as he tried to push harder. Jongin was stronger than Kyungsoo expected, and he couldn’t manage to get the door closed. He saw out of the corner of his eye that the chain was splintering the door frame as Jongin pushed harder.

Kyungsoo let go of the door and ran to the bathroom locking himself in. Less than a minute later, there was a sound of something breaking and then the front door was shut with the sound of it being locked. Kyungsoo held his breath and listened for a sound.

A minute passed and there was nothing. Slowly, he reached for the doorknob. He had left his phone on the table and was stranded in the bathroom. All he needed was to grab it. Just as he was about to unlock the door, the floor from outside creaked. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and he froze.

“Hyung, please, I just want to talk.” There was the sound of shuffling as he heard Jongin walk past the bathroom.

When he heard Jongin enter his bedroom, Kyungsoo debated whether he should take the chance grab his phone from the front hallway. What else could he do?

Making a decision, Kyungsoo unlocked the door as quietly as he could and opened the door.

He could still hear Jongin shuffling around in his bedroom and he moved quickly towards the door, picking up his phone that he’d dropped.

As he unlocked the door he saw that the chain had been completely ripped out of the door, a mess of splintered wood on the ground and in the door frame. Taking a deep breath he opened the door, only to get it shut from behind him.

Kyungsoo could feel Jongin pressing up behind him as he caged him in on either side with his arms.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo said quietly. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, hyung. I just want to talk.” Kyungsoo didn’t dare turn around.

“Talk about what?”

“A lot of things,” Jongin said, his bright tone making Kyungsoo shiver. “I also wanted to return this to you.” He saw one of Jongin’s arms move as he reached back to grab something. A second later, he was dangling a pair of striped socks with horribly clashed colors. “I just thought it might be why you aren’t writing.”

Kyungsoo swallowed as he eyed the socks. They were the ones Taehyung had given him.

“Where did you get that from?”

“Where do you think, hyung?”

Kyungsoo finally turned to face Jongin, back pressed up against the door. Jongin was still smiling like nothing was wrong an eerily blank look on his face.

“W-What do you want to talk about?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Where do we start?” Jongin slipped a hand close to the small of Kyungsoo’s back and Kyungsoo jerked to the side. Jongin gave a little laugh and twisted his hand as Kyungsoo heard the door lock again. “I know. How about Baekhyun?”

Kyungsoo’s gaze hardened remembering the threatening text Jongin had sent him minutes ago.

“What about him?” Kyungsoo growled out.

Jongin looked a little surprised at Kyungsoo’s anger. “Don’t get mad hyung. I just wanted to know why you’d spend time with him.”

He laughed as he leaned in closer. “I mean, why him? The last girl was my mistake, but there’s no mistaking you and Baekhyun. There’s something there.” Jongin suddenly backed away. “Hyung, he’s using you.”

Kyungsoo took a deep, shuddering breath now that Jongin wasn’t pressed up against him. “No, if anything, I’m using him.”

“No, no way.” Jongin shook his head and looked at Kyungsoo angrily. “Don’t blame yourself. I know he’s just been messing with you! He isn’t good enough for you! He hasn’t even read your book!” For a second a second a look of pure bliss crossed Jongin’s face, but it disappeared just as quickly. “He doesn’t appreciate you the way he should. Like I do.”

Kyungsoo stared back with no response.

“I’ve been by your side for years. Did you know that I went to the same high school as you?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. “I thought you went to high school with Se-”

“Sehun? Ha, I transferred halfway through the year. I thought I’d never see you again, but then college…” Jongin laughed and took a deep breath. “College. When I saw you again, I couldn’t believe it! It was fate.” The odd look flickered across his face again. “And then. And then I read your book.”

Jongin surged forward and put his hands on Kyungsoo’s cheeks. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think of when Baekhyun did the same thing. So different yet so similar.

“I know you were trying to communicate with me. It’s okay, you don’t need to say anything. I got your message.”

Kyungsoo tried to shove Jongin off when suddenly there was banging on the door.

“Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo? Are you in there?” It was Baekhyun.

Jongin put a hand over Kyungsoo’s mouth before he could answer.

“Don’t say anything hyung. I don’t want to do something we’ll both regret.”

Kyungsoo froze.

“Jongin, I know you’re in there. I asked Sehun and Seokjin already. They told me you came here. Open the door,” Baekhyun shouted as he began banging on the door again.

Jongin looked over at Kyungsoo who was still silent and unmoving. He held a finger up to his lips.

“I still have more to say. Let’s wait until he leaves,” he whispered.

Kyungsoo nodded, before suddenly biting down on Jongin’s fingers. Jongin yelped and Baekhyun stopped banging on the door as Kyungsoo unlocked, but Jongin slammed his arms against the door.

“Baekhyun-” Kyungsoo managed before Jongin was dragging him into his own bedroom.

“Stop! We aren’t done talking!” Jongin yelled looking uncharacteristically furious, but Kyungsoo’s blood was boiling as well.

“Yes, we are! All I’ve heard is that you’re a creep who doesn’t understand what boundaries are!” Kyungsoo shouted back.

The front door flew open as Baekhyun made his way in. In his hurry to move Kyungsoo, Jongin didn’t bother locking the door.

Jongin turned in surprise and Kyungsoo took the opening to grab a textbook and smash it over the back of Jongin’s neck.

As Jongin fell, Kyungsoo made eye contact with Baekhyun who stood on the other side of Jongin looking like an absolute mess.

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun said. “Kyungsoo, I’m sorry. I found out just last night-”

Baekhyun cut himself off as he walked towards him.

“I’m fine,” Kyungsoo said quietly as he stared down at Jongin. “I mean, I think I’m going to faint, but I’m fine.”

Baekhyun walked within arm's length of Kyungsoo and suddenly Kyungsoo stumbled to him, pulling him into a hug. “I think I’ll be fine. Just… let’s just stay like this for a little while.”

Baekhyun hugged him back and he felt Kyungsoo shudder against him as he began crying unabashedly into Baekhyun’s chest.

~

“It’s a concussion. You must’ve hit him pretty hard,” the policeman said to Kyungsoo as they sat in the middle of a mess of people inspecting the place.

“Okay, but he’ll be fine right?” Kyungsoo said as he squeezed Baekhyun’s hand.

“Yes, he’ll be fine.” The officer gave a sympathetic smile. “Do you have somewhere close by to stay? This apartment needs to be combed over, but we might need more statements from you two.”

“Yes, I have a place,” Kyungsoo said.

“Okay, well, we’ll see you soon. Stay safe,” the policeman said as he bowed and escorted Baekhyun and Kyungsoo out.

Seokjin and Taehyung were standing outside of the door and both rushed forward to check Kyungsoo.

“Oh my god. I didn’t know Jongin… he offered to grab something for me from your apartment. I didn’t think he would…” Seokjin kept running a hand soothingly up and down Kyungsoo’s back as he struggled to get the words out. “I’ve known him for years. I should have _known_.”

Taehyung’s usually bright demeanor was filled with concern as he patted him on the shoulder, arm, head, and so on.

“Hyung, are you okay?” He began patting Baekhyun down as well. “Are you okay?”

Kyungsoo just leaned into Seokjin and closed his eyes. Baekhyun gave a grin and threw an arm around Taehyung.

“Of course! Kyungsoo is a real badass,” Baekhyun said ruffling Taehyung’s hair. “Nice to finally see you again, bestie.”

Taehyung beamed for a second before his expression turned more serious again.

“But are you both actually okay?”

Kyungsoo nodded as Seokjin picked up his phone.

“Yeah. No, it’s okay. They’re coming over to my apartment.” Seokjin hung up and turned to Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. “Namjoon is in class right now. Do you two have any classes?”

Kyungsoo shook his head, but Baekhyun nodded. “Yeah, I’ll call the professor. She likes me, so it should be fine.”

“Alright, let’s go over to my apartment.”

Baekhyun held Kyungsoo’s hand the entire way to Seokjin’s apartment. When they finally got back, both of them went to sit at the kitchen table as Seokjin got water for everyone and Taehyung texted Jungkook to skip class.

“Has anyone told Sehun yet?” Taehyung said after texting Jungkook.

Everyone in the room looked up, uncomfortable.

“No, I don’t know how to tell him,” Baekhyun said. “I thought they were dating at one point.”

Taehyung shook his head. “No, but Sehun really likes him. Like _really_ likes him.”

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Baekhyun’s head as he looked up, sad.

“That’s how Jongin managed to do all that. I thought it was weird. Jongin wasn’t quite skilled enough to pull everything off by himself.”

Seokjin’s mouth dropped open as he handed them their glasses of water.

“You don’t mean… he helped him?”

Baekhyun shook his head as he took a sip of water. “No, it must’ve been when they were over at my apartment. Jongin must’ve found a way to access my computer, maybe he even saw what I was working on.”

Taehyung looked at Baekhyun in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I was being stalked remotely. Over my phone,” Kyungsoo said as he looked at Baekhyun.

“You what?” Taehyung jumped up.

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo said as he looked at Baekhyun and his own intertwined fingers. “It’s fine.”

Baekhyun leaned in to put his chin on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“Don’t say that anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not the end yet!!
> 
> Jongin is actually such a sweetheart in real life it was so weird to write this chapter


	16. Chapter 16

It had been nearly a week, and Sehun refused to talk to anyone. When they first broke it to him, he thought that it was some large elaborate joke, but soon after, when he saw Jongin in jail, Sehun had stopped doing anything.

In that time, Kyungsoo had begun rooming with Taehyung and Hoseok, and Namjoon with Seokjin and Yoongi. They all worried for Sehun’s well-being because his roommate was Jongin, so there was no one to check on him and see if he was okay.

One day, Seokjin lost it.

“It’s been over two weeks, someone needs to make sure he’s alive!”

Baekhyun nodded in agreement. “I have an idea.”

It was Chanyeol, Seokjin, Namjoon, Taehyung, Jungkook, Jongdae, Hoseok, and Kyungsoo that were gathered in a circle on Baekhyun’s living room carpet. An odd group, but one that Kyungsoo felt comfortable with.

“We should break into his house.”

Kyungsoo and Jongdae shook their heads as Chanyeol, Taehyung, Jungkook, Hoseok, and Seokjin nodded emphatically. Namjoon just sat there confused.

“Wait, break in? Like trespassing?” Namjoon asked.

“Yes, like trespassing, but with good intentions,” Baekhyun said as the group that agreed nodded even more enthusiastically.

Kyungsoo and Jongdae looked at each other in disbelief.

“That’s illegal, you idiot,” Jongdae said, poking Baekhyun in the thigh.

“So? Letting someone die when you could’ve saved them is also illegal,” Taehyung said. He added quickly, “Hyung.”

“Here’s how we’ll do it,” Baekhyun said leaning forward. “Some of us will bang on the door to distract him, and then two of us will go onto the fire escape and get into the dorm room like that.”

“But what if it’s locked?” Kyungsoo asked, looking at Baekhyun incredulously.

“It won’t be. His dog likes fresh air, so he’ll have it open,” Taehyung said.

“That’s a high maintenance dog,” Jungkook said from Taehyung’s lap. He was laying with his feet on Seokjin’s.

“Yeah have you met Vivi? He spoils her like no other.” Taehyung said down to Jungkook.

“Wait is there going to be dog shit everywhere?” Jongdae asked wrinkling his nose.

“No, he asked one of his friends to walk the dog for him everyday,” Baekhyun said.

“How do you know?” Chanyeol asked.

“Um, I may or may not have hacked into the CCTV cameras.” At everyone’s wide-eyed looks of horror and respect (Taehyung, Jungkook, Hoseok) Baekhyun quickly defended himself. “I was trying to see if I could get into his computer or something at home!”

This time there were more looks of horror.

“Um, that’s gross, hyung,” Taehyung said and everyone nodded in agreement.

“No! I was trying to see if he was using it at all,” Baekhyun exclaimed when everyone continued to look at him disapprovingly.

“Was he?” Namjoon asked.

“Yes, but only to email people to tell them he wouldn’t be in school for a few days. Or more,” Baekhyun added ominously.

“Holy shit,” Seokjin said getting up. “Let’s just go now.”

“There was a general clamor as everyone got up and agreed, even Kyungsoo and Jongdae.

“Who’s going to be the one to climb up the fire escape?” Jungkook asked. Everyone turned to look at him and Taehyung.

“No-” Jungkook started, but was interrupted by Taehyung’s loud “Yes!”

~

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had ended up going to Sehun’s house. Everyone agreed that there were too many people to be banging on Sehun’s door. They might even scare him to go to the opposite end of the dorm.

“Hey,” Baekhyun said as they walked into the building. Taehyung and Jungkook were already working their way up the fire escape. “Are you feeling better?”

Kyungsoo gave a little laugh and nodded. “You ask me that every time we see each other.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Baekhyun asked grinning at Kyungsoo’s laugh.

“We see each other everyday,” Kyungsoo said raising an eyebrow.

“Well then I’ll just have to ask you everyday.”

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo made it to the third floor where Sehun was staying. Baekhyun raised a fist to Sehun’s door and signaled for Kyungsoo to call Taehyung and Jungkook.

“Sehun!” Baekhyun said knocking on the door.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Kyungsoo said to Taehyung.

“Okay, hyung!” Taehyung hung up.

“Sehun, we know you’re in there,” Kyungsoo said as Baekhyun continued knocking the door.

They both listened and could hear some shuffling behind the door.

“We can hear you,” Baekhyun said. “Can you please open the door?”

No answer.

“He’s not actually dead is he?” Baekhyun asked, concern coloring his voice.

“I don’t think-” Kyungsoo was cut off by some very obnoxious laughing from inside the apartment.

“Has he gone crazy?” Baekhyun said as he and Kyungsoo put their ears to the door.

Some more laughing and then a “Shut up!”.

“No, that’s Tae and Jungkook,” Kyungsoo said, sighing in relief.

The door was pulled open and Taehyung’s face popped out from behind it.

“Sehun isn’t in here,” Taehyung said. “Not in the living room anyway.”

Baekhyun stepped in with Kyungsoo following him and they saw Jungkook petting Vivi in the living room.

“Not the time for this, Jungkook,” Baekhyun said as they looked around the silent apartment.

“This seems like it could be haunted,” Taehyung whispered to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but agree. The room was dark and none of the lights were on. There was a stale smell in the air, even with the window open.

He almost jumped when he felt a hand slip into his own. Following it from his arm, Baekhyun grinned and gave Kyungsoo’s hand a squeeze.

“I’m scared,” he said with an impish glint in his eye.

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything, but he squeezed back as they walked to the end of the hallway. Before they could open the door to Sehun’s bedroom though, Jungkook gave a little squeak.

“Hyung! Don’t leave me here,” he called out to Taehyung, running to reach them. They all laughed a little because despite the atmosphere Jungkook clinging to Taehyung was adorable.

Taehyung patted Jungkook on the head. “I’m right here, scaredy cat.”

Baekhyun looked to Kyungsoo who nodded, and he opened the door with his free hand.

The stale smell from the living room hit them full force and Jungkook buried his head into Taehyung’s shoulder.

Baekhyun opened the door wider and saw a swath of blankets in the middle of Sehun’s bed.

They all took a step forward with Baekhyun standing at the helm.

“Sehun?” Baekhyun said, his voice loud in the silent apartment.

The pile of blankets moved a little.

Taehyung edged forward with Jungkook’s head still in his back. Slowly, he pulled back the covers, and there was Sehun.

He yanked the blankets back over his head and said, “What do you want?”

Kyungsoo let go of Baekhyun’s hand and stepped forward, helping Taehyung pry the blanket out of Sehun’s hands and pulling it off of him completely.

“Sehun, are you okay?” Taehyung said as he bent down to see his face.

Even though it was a serious situation, Baekhyun held in a laugh as he watched Jungkook bend down with him head still buried in his back.

Baekhyun stepped forward and he and Taehyung coaxed Sehun out of bed.

Jungkook and Kyungsoo went around the apartment and made him some food while they woke him up.

“Do you think Sehun hyung is okay?” Jungkook asked as he began boiling water.

Kyungsoo looked up in surprise. Jungkook didn’t really talk to him one and one.

“Yeah, I think he should be fine. He has snack wrappers littered all over the house so it seems he was eating, even if it wasn’t very healthy.”

“He seems to be really affected by what happened…” Jungkook looked at Kyungsoo unsure of whether he could say what he wanted to or not.

“What happened with Jongin?” Kyungsoo finished for him.

“Yeah,” Jungkook said, obviously relieved Kyungsoo was calm about it. “Were they dating or something?”

Kyungsoo began chopping up some cucumbers as he hummed, thinking about the question.

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I didn’t know either of them extremely well.” Kyungsoo hands Jungkook the package of noodles.

“That’s true,” Jungkook hesitated again. “Is that why you didn’t really talk to me too much?”

Kyungsoo pulled out some more things from the fridge. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just-well, I thought-I was worried that you didn’t like me,” Jungkook stuttered out, staring at the pot of water very intensely as the back of his neck turned red. “I know I can be a bit of a brat sometimes, but I thought you really didn’t like me. And you got along with Taehyung so well…”

Jungkook abruptly squatted down to pet Vivi. “I wasn’t sure if that was why…” Kyungsoo didn’t hear the rest of the sentence as Jungkook began mumbling, but he caught onto the meaning.

“I like you, Jungkook. Don’t worry.” Kyungsoo checked to see if the water was boiling, which it wasn’t. “It was harder to talk to people when I wasn’t sure of who they were.”

Jungkook brightened at that and stopped petting Vivi, getting up to watch the pot again.

At that moment, Baekhyun and Taehyung dragged a weary looking Sehun into the room.

“We’re ready for some food!” Baekhyun said, clearly struggling to keep Sehun up.

“Then come over here and help,” Kyungsoo said as he frowned, watching them set Sehun into the chair.

His dog went crazy as she jumped over to him, but Sehun only stared at the table in front of him, blank.

Baekhyun mouthed, “I don’t know what to do” to Kyungsoo as he took the knife from him and dropped the cucumbers into the now boiling pot of noodles.

Kyungsoo turned around and went to sit in front of Sehun.

“Hey,” he started off. “I’m sorry about what happened.”

Taehyung spoke up from beside Sehun. “You shouldn’t be apologizing for anything hyung!”

“No, I’m just sorry about losing Jongin,” Kyungsoo said.

Sehun looked up at him with no expression on his face.

“Losing him? I didn’t lose anything,” Sehun said voice cracking from not being used.

Baekhyun turned and looked over at Kyungsoo and Sehun, a little wary of what was happening.

This time Taehyung’s normally cheerful expression became a little sadder.

“Well I lost a friend,” Taehyung said quietly. “We all lost a friend.”

Sehun looked down at his hands in his lap and didn’t say anything for a minute. Baekhyun and Jungkook split the noodles between bowls and looked over every once in awhile to make sure everyone was okay.

Slowly, Sehun’s shoulders started shaking and Vivi came over to lick tears off of his lap.

Taehyung put an arm around him, and Kyungsoo looked to Baekhyun for help.

Jungkook’s eyes widened and he stuck to bringing the bowls one by one to the table, trying to drag it out for as long as he could looking very uncomfortable with the situation.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, came over immediately and began stroking Sehun’s back.

“It’s okay, kid,” Baekhyun said as Sehun began sobbing quietly.

“I liked him. I thought he liked me too,” Sehun said between tears. “We did stuff together. Stuff that you don’t do with a friend.”

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun looked at each other for a second before they both turned away.

“Do you want to tell us about it? Or no?” Baekhyun said as he continued to keep a hand on Sehun’s back.

“I-I don’t want to talk right now.”

Taehyung nodded and gestured for Jungkook to move quicker before saying, “How about eating then?”

Sehun gave a small nod and Jungkook awkwardly handed him a napkin for his tears.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, save for some sniffling from Sehun.

Finally, when they finished, Sehun spoke up again.

“I should be the one apologizing, hyung,” he said to Kyungsoo. “I knew what Jongin was doing and I didn’t stop him. I helped him.”

Kyungsoo looked at Sehun evenly. “Did you know what you were doing though?”

Sehun shook his head. “I just knew it was illegal. Jongin would always go over to Baekhyun hyung’s apartment to get tips and stuff under the guise of classes, and when Jongin found out that Baekhyun hyung was helping you, he asked me to help him copy information. I didn’t know what I was copying.”

Sehun looked down at the ground, embarrassed. “I should’ve asked about what he was doing, but he always did…things in exchange.”

“What kind of-” Taehyung put a hand over Jungkook’s mouth shaking his head.

“It’s okay, just stuff like kissing and so on.”

Kyungsoo put a hand on Sehun’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Just get back to classes and your job. It’s not your fault.”

Sehun nodded, looking a little better than before.

“We’re going to stay here for the rest of the day,” Taehyung said, hooking an arm around Jungkook.

Baekhyun gave Sehun a smile and walked towards the door with Kyungsoo.

“Okay, we’re going to go then. Don’t ever do something like this again,” Baekhyun said to Sehun and got a nod in return.

When he and Kyungsoo left, he turned to Kyungsoo. “What Sehun did…are you really okay with it?”

Kyungsoo nodded. “What Sehun did wasn’t right, but did you see him? He really had no idea.”

Baekhyun smiled and grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand. “That makes sense.” When Kyungsoo looked down at their hands Baekhyun gave another mischievous grin. “I’m still scared.”

Kyungsoo gave a laugh and held on a little tighter. “I’m not the best protection.”

“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun said leaning in so that their foreheads bumped. “You’re the best protection there is.”

Kyungsoo would not have expected their first kiss to be outside Sehun’s apartment in the middle of the hallway, but he also didn’t expect himself to initiate it.

Baekhyun reached up to put a hand on Kyungsoo’s neck and Kyungsoo held onto Baekhyun’s wrist. He still tasted like the noodles they just ate, but Kyungsoo didn’t mind. They stayed in the middle of the hallway for a while before someone walked up and went “Get a room” as they were walking into their apartment.

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun pulled away and only then did Kyungsoo realize they were still holding hands.

“Oops,” Baekhyun said with a little laugh. “Um, where were we going?”

Kyungsoo looked at Baekhyun feeling himself turn red. “I don’t remember.”

“We can just go back to my apartment till we remember,” Baekhyun said looking suspiciously pleased.

“Why? Do you think kissing will bring help us remember?” Kyungsoo asked still a little out of breath from their kiss.

Baekhyun began pulling Kyungsoo to the stairs, saying, “Well, we’ll never know unless we try.”


	17. Character Overview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to [ @livcanary ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/livcanary) for making me do this
> 
> A character overview because even I'm confused.
> 
> There's a lot of extra background information you may not care about, but it's there if you want to know ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

People who knew Kyungsoo beforehand  
~All of BTS  
    ~friends of friends became friends, wow that makes sense  
~Sehun  
    ~friends of BTS so friends of friends  
~Jongin  
    ~mutual friends again  
~Minseok  
    ~a hyung he knew in high school  
~Junmyeon  
    ~Minseok’s brother, also a friend in high school  
~Luna ~ kind of  
    ~high school as well, cousin of Minseok and Junmyeon

  
~he’s not the type to go and meet people so lots of mutuals

People who knew Baekhyun beforehand  
~All of EXO except for Kyungsoo  
    ~because he’s a social person  
~Hoseok  
    ~Jongdae talks about his coworker a lot and when he visits their offices he often sees Hobi  
~Taehyung ~ kind of, doesn’t know his name  
    ~met at a bar but DID NOT hook up, just ranted to each other and became besties in the process  
~Jungkook ~ kind of because of Taehyung  
    ~Taehyung wouldn’t shut up about him so Jungkook knows of him  
~Yoongi ~ kind of because of Hoseok  
    ~randomly appears at Hobi’s office, sometimes when Baekhyun is there, sometimes when he isn’t  
    ~Jongdae complains about him stealing their food all the time  
~Luna  
    ~cousin of Minseok and Junmyeon  
    ~also has a crush on Chanyeol, so she stops by his studio a lot

Kyungsoo  
~got stalked over a year ago, almost two  
~has social anxiety because of it  
~roommates with Namjoon and good friends with Seokjin  
~Taehyung burrowed his way into Kyungsoo’s heart, Kyungsoo had no control over it  
~deals with Jungkook  
~awkward but friendly acquaintance with Yoongi  
~pretty friendly with Hoseok  
~Sehun and Jongin are part of BTS’s friend group, so they both know Kyungsoo well enough to tease him, but not well enough  
~Minseok and Junmyeon work with him  
~knows of Luna because she’s Junmyeon’s cousin

Baekhyun  
~originally a computer science major, but quit because he was waaaayyy smarter than his professors, and was interested in the human psyche  
~just a great person overall  
~best friends with Chanyeol and Jongdae  
~unofficial best friends with Taehyung  
~he’s best friends with everyone ok  
~he’s also just really friendly with everyone  
~has a handle on most things, including Jongin and Sehun who keep trying to hack into a system that he created (and failing)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions feel free to ask them, but if they're spoilers I can't answer them (´∀｀)


	18. Movie Night

“Where’s Sehun?” Kyungsoo asked as he and Baekhyun walked into Seokjin’s apartment. It was now a regular place that everyone frequented.

“He’s visiting Jongin,” Seokjin said from the kitchen.

Namjoon got up from the living room carpet and grabbed a few bags from Kyungsoo while greeting Baekhyun.

“Did you get the beer?” Taehyung asked at the same time Jungkook said, “Did you get the candy?”

“Well, we know where your priorities are,” Baekhyun said laughing as Kyungsoo gave them both a thumbs up and went into the kitchen to help Seokjin.

A minute later, Yoongi came out from the bathroom with his eyes half shut.

“You didn’t fall asleep on the toilet, hyung. Did you?” Jungkook asked with a smirk on his face.

“Be quiet, maknae,” Yoongi said without looking at Jungkook. To the older people, he asked, “Where’s Hoseok?”

“Coming over with Jongdae,” Baekhyun said as he tried to sneak a piece of meat from a dish. Both Seokjin and Kyungsoo swatted his hand away and Baekhyun pouted at the both of them. “Oh, by the way, Chanyeol is bringing over a friend,” Baekhyun added.

Seokjin nodded as Namjoon hopped back over to the two youngest ones in the living room.

“The more the merrier. I made too much food anyway.”

“There can never be too much food,” Taehyung yelled from the living room and Kyungsoo shook his head.

The doorbell began ringing and Namjoon got up to get it.

“Chanyeol hyung,” Namjoon said bowing his head. “And who is this?”

Chanyeol came in clapping Namjoon on the shoulder with a grin. “This is Park Jimin. He’s a dancer.”

Yoongi shot up from the sofa. “Who?”

A higher voice responded, “Yoongi hyung! Hi!”

Chanyeol grinned to face Yoongi as the owner of the voice revealed himself to be a short muscular man with a very cute face.

“You know him?”

Yoongi immediately grabbed Taehyung who was getting up to go to the kitchen and pulled him in front of him.

“No.”

Taehyung and Jimin made eye contact as Jungkook fell over to take a look at the new guy.

“Jiminnie!” Taehyung jumped off the couch and the two hugged it out. Yoongi grabbed Jungkook instead to use as a shield.

Before any more greetings could be exchanged, the doorbell rang again.

“Hello? Is anybody going to get the door?” A muffled voice said from the other side.

“We’re too good for them,” a familiar voice yelled so that everyone could hear him. “Let’s leave.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes as Chanyeol opened the door.

“Oh look who it is!” Before Jongdae could get out another word, Chanyeol threw an arm around his neck and dragged him in headfirst.

Hoseok stood warily, right outside the door. “You aren’t going to do that to me, are you?” he asked as Jongdae elbowed Chanyeol in the ribs coughing.

“No, of course not,” Chanyeol said with an angelic smile on his face. “He just owes me something.”

Hoseok nods and grabs the end of Namjoon’s sleeve as he walks in. “If I die, it’s all on you.”

Taehyung was carrying Jimin on his back when Jimin said, “Hyung!”

Hoseok’s wary expression disappeared as he beamed and jumped onto Taehyung as well, knocking the three of them over onto the ground. Yoongi was still holding onto Jungkook in some akin to fear.

Kyungsoo turned to Baekhyun saying, “This is a mess,” just as Baekhyun tried to steal another piece of food from the bowl.

“Baek, stop,” Kyungsoo said laughing at Baekhyun’s guilty expression.

“What? You want a taste?” Baekhyun leaned in to kiss Kyungsoo when Jongdae gave a shout of horror.

“No! No! NO,” Jongdae said rushing over. “You are not doing that over the food.” He pushed them apart. “Do that somewhere else you two sickos. You could’ve contaminated the food.”

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo each grabbed Jongdae by the ear and Seokjin could only laugh at Jongdae’s horrified expression.

“Well, we’re all here to do something,” Namjoon shouted over the general chaos.

Everyone turned to look at him. “Right?” he said sounding more unsure of himself.

“Yes, we are,” Chanyeol said slinging an arm around Namjoon’s shoulders and whispering in the silent room, “I got you, bro.”

Seokjin gave an audible sigh and Chanyeol continued. “It’s someone’s birthday today!”

Suddenly, Jongdae went to duck underneath the table, but Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were still holding him by the ears.

“Jongdae!” Hoseok said in an unnecessarily loud voice. “Happy Birthday!”

Everyone began shouting “Happy Birthday!” and Namjoon and Chanyeol high-fived as Jongdae turned pink with embarrassment.

~

After eating everything, everyone settled down to watch a scary movie. Halfway through, Kyungsoo nudged Baekhyun in amusement, pointing at Jungkook and Taehyung.

While Taehyung was generally unaffected by what was happening in the movie, chatting about the actual plot with Yoongi, Jungkook was practically sitting in his lap in fear. Baekhyun grinned and put his head on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“He acts like such a know it all but look at him now,” Baekhyun said quietly into Kyungsoo’s ear.

“You guys better not be making out,” Jongdae said suddenly as if he were rising out of the shadows. He might as well have been because Kyungsoo was caught so off guard he yelped. At that moment in the movie, people were screaming as well so no one heard him although Baekhyun put a comforting hand on his leg and flicked Jongdae on the forehead.

“Why not? Jealous?” Baekhyun smirked as Jongdae sputtered in denial. “Why are you behind the couch anyway?”

“Oh, I’m going to scare Chanyeol and Namjoon.” He pointed to the two who were very engrossed in the movie.

“Wait, let me get my phone out,” Baekhyun said shifting on the couch to reach into his pockets. Jongdae nodded and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as he watched the two snicker.

“Yah!” Jongdae yelled pushing the two guys forward.

Chanyeol and Seokjin, who was on the other side of Namjoon, both gave a high pitched shriek, but Namjoon barely reacted, instead, looking at the movie in confusion.

“Wait, who’s possessed? Are they all possessed? How does possession work? They need to sort out these details. The plot holes are really bad.”

“Are you serious?” Seokjin hissed as he clung to Namjoon’s arm. “That’s what you’re thinking about?”

Taehyung turned around at Namjoon’s questions. “I know, right? This movie is such a mess.”

Jungkook was still cowering in fear and when Taehyung turned around he did as well.

“Kookie, are you okay?” Taehyung asked as he began petting his head.

“Yeah, _Kookie_ ,” Jimin said laughing. “Are you okay?”

“Guys, the exciting part is happening right now!” Hoseok said in annoyance. “Can’t you all just watch?”

Yoongi scoffed. “Did you actually think we were going to make it through the whole movie?”

Suddenly, Jongdae jumped out in front of the TV shouting, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"

What ensued was chaos as Chanyeol and Seokjin clung to Namjoon. Jungkook screamed in shock and grabbed both Jimin and Taehyung by the arms. Hoseok jumped up and screamed back in fear. Baekhyun was laughing into Kyungsoo’s neck as Kyungsoo gripped his hand.

“Well, what did you expect?" Yoongi groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I'm done.
> 
> Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING IT THROUGH THIS <3<3<3<3<3


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